The Gate
by KillamriX88
Summary: Some things are not meant to see the light of day. Terrible things happen when they do. Naruto finds himself in the middle of a hellish mess, and decides someone has to try and clean it up. Fortunately he's not alone. Can he and his allies do it in time?
1. Unleash Hell

**I read an excellent fic, and it really inspired me to write more. I decided that since I'm doing all this writing for free, I don't really owe anything to my readers. If anything, you owe me for entertaining you for no more reward than your reviews. But don't worry, I hold no grudges, I enjoy the writing.**

**My point in all this is, I am going to be doing a lot more writing, but at the same time, you will likely see less stuff from me, as I won't be pouring all my efforts into one or two fics. If I should end up with a dozen unfinished, and perhaps unposted fics, then so be it. I just want to let it all flow out and stop all these new ideas that pop up from clogging my head.**

**So, longest pre-fic narrative ever aside, let a new fic commence.**

**This time... I'm going supernatural bitches!**

**(Warning: I'm putting some pretty nasty stuff in this fic. The squeamish may want to find a tamer fic to read.)**

* * *

**Unleash Hell**

Deep in the confines of the earth, farther below its crust than most would ever venture... things were stirring. They did not stir gently, like one before waking, nor did they stir with pleasant aromas like a pot of one's favorite food. No, they stirred violently, with pungent fumes like sulfur. It had been so long, oh so long since they had been stirred. They hungered. They wanted freedom. Sweet, terrible freedom.

Today, they got their wish.

**. . .**

"Alright Naruto, get up, time to get moving!" A large, white haired man said, kicking the sleeping form of his blond pupil.

"Mmf! Five more minutes..." The teenager grumbled, turning over on his bed roll.

"I'll give you until I get my shoes on, and then I'll kick you again." His sensei shook his head and sat down to put on his large wooden sandals.

"Dammit ero-sennin, fine!" Naruto grumbled, getting up and shaking his head, trying to make his eyes stop disobeying him and stay open.

"Stop calling me that! I'm Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin!" Jiraiya glowered at him. "Show some respect for once!"

"Maybe if you'd stop peeping so much, legendary _pervert_." Naruto smirked slightly while packing his bed roll and blankets away.

"Just because you're awake doesn't mean I won't kick you." Jiraiya shook his head. "Oh never mind, you'll stop being so annoying after I what I'm about to tell you."

"What's that?" Naruto asked as he pulled on his new jacket. Instead of his old blue and orange one, which was now too small and ragged to wear, he had one that had fully black sleeves to go along with his favorite orange.

"How long have we been traveling?" Jiraiya asked casually.

"Err, just over two... years..." Naruto's eyes widened slowly in realization.

"That's right, we're-" Jiraiya was cut off when Naruto jumped up and down joyously,

"WE'RE GOING BACK TO KONOHA! SAKURA-CHAN HERE I COME!" Naruto shouted ecstatically.

"Oi, oi, calm down before you burst a blood vessel. You won't be getting any girls if you have a stroke!" Jiraiya chuckled, part of him enjoyed seeing the boy so happy. Unfortunately the happy occasion was short lived as suddenly they felt a tremor shake the earth. At first it was a slight vibration beneath their feet that got their attention, causing them to look around warily.

"Ero-sennin,you felt that too right?" Naruto asked, straining his well tuned senses to try and determine the vibration's source, but coming up with nothing.

"Yeah gaki, I did." Jiraiya nodded, also unable to discern the source. After a moment it stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked, throwing his arms up in confusion. Before Jiraiya could answer the two were thrown off their feet by a massive quake, followed by intense tremors far more violent than the last. It was followed by darkening skies, strange as the sun had just risen less than an hour ago. They looked up even as they tried to steady themselves to see horrid black clouds shooting through the air. It reminded Naruto of Shino's bug swarms they way they moved in tight clusters, swirling through the air. However, these cloud clusters were far larger and more sinister.

Finally, the clouds had moved beyond their line of sight, and the shaking subsided.

"I'll ask again. What. The. Hell?" Naruto panted, high on an adrenaline rush.

"I... I don't know." Jiraiya looked around almost frantically, wondering if anything else was going to happen. Fortunately nothing did, but he knew there must be something happening somewhere, some result of the tremors and clouds. There was no way it had all been for show, not with those kinds of tremors.

"What should we do?" Naruto asked as he stood up.

"Nothing we can do, we have no idea what that was all about. We'll just have to report it when we get to Konoha." Jiraiya sighed as he stood up as well. "Let's just finish packing our things and get going. If something is happening, I want to be in the village."

**. . .**

"Tsunade-shishou, did you feel that!" A pink haired girl shouted as she burst into the Hokage's office in Konohagakure.

"Yes, Sakura. I _saw_ it." The Hokage, Tsunade, replied, looking out the large windows in her office. The sky was clear at the moment, but just moments ago...

"The black clouds?" Sakura asked, walking over to Tsunade.

"Yes. And before you ask, no I don't know what it was about. But it felt wrong..." Tsunade squinted, thinking about the nightmare of paperwork that would likely follow. Endless reports that wouldn't tell her shit, and dozens of pointless interviews with people to find out things she already knew. The ground had shaken and there had been strange clouds shooting through the sky. She doubt anyone was going to say anything different.

"R-right." Sakura nodded. She honestly hadn't expected much more than that, but she had hoped someone with Tsunade's knowledge might know _something_.

"It has to mean something though. If it wasn't for those clouds I'd say just an earthquake, but no, it's never that easy. This is going to be a pain." Tsunade sighed, placing a hand on her forehead in dismay. She walked back to her desk and sat down. "I don't suppose I could convince you to get me a drink?" She glanced at her apprentice, who shook her head.

"I think you're going to want to be sober. I doubt I'll be your last visitor today." Sakura smiled wryly.

"Of course." Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "Maybe Shizune..." She muttered.

"Sorry, but I'm going to warn her..." Sakura began to back towards the door, keeping a wary eye on her master.

"Why you little..." Tsunade growled, beginning to stand up menacingly.

"Things to do, bye!" Sakura replied quickly and dashed out, just in time as moments later she heard something crash into the door behind her. "Damn she gets grumpy sometimes." The girl sighed.

**. . .**

On a grassy hillside in a pleasant countryside, two young children were playing. A boy and a girl, brother and sister. They both had brown hair, though the boy had brown eyes while the girl had blue with much longer hair. The boy wore a tank top and shorts while the girl had a t-shirt and a flower-print skirt that went a few inches past her knees.

"Hahaha, you're so slow!" The boy laughed as he ran through the field, his sister struggling to keep up. He looked back at her to stick his tongue out teasingly, and then suddenly felt himself run into something strange. It didn't impede him in the slightest, but it was cold, and suddenly he couldn't see very well.

"A-Arata...?" He heard his sister whimper, but he couldn't see her. Suddenly though, he felt something forcing it's way down his throat, and all conscious thought stopped.

The little girl had been chasing after her brother, when suddenly a block cloud had appeared before him, but at that moment he had looked away and run right into it. She had been unable to see him, but then the cloud had begun to shrink, and then she had been able to see that it was going into her brother's mouth. After a few moments, all of it had gone into him.

"A-Arata?" She repeated, confused and worried. Above all however, she was terrified. She took a cautious step forward when he didn't respond, as he wasn't looking her way anymore and she wanted to see his face. Eventually she was right behind him, and she placed a hand on his shoulder tentatively. Touching him seemed to spring him back to life as he spun around quickly to face her.

"Arisu..." Her brother smirked in a rather disturbing manner. "Such a pretty name..."

"Wh-what?" Arisu took a frightened step back, this wasn't her brother. He looked like Arata, but he was acting different, and the way he talked was off. He spoke like an adult was what sprung to her mind.

"Why do you look so scared? Why are you backing away from your brother? Stop looking at me like that!" His face suddenly contorted in rage, and he lunged forward and back handed her off her feet, causing her to gasp in pain. "Oh, I'm sorry! Did that hurt?" He knelt down and stroked Arisu's now tear streaked face in a surprisingly tender manner. "So will this." He suddenly grinned sadistically. He grabbed the young girl by her shirt and lifted her completely off the ground with strength that an eight year old should not posses.

"Arata... why?" Arisu sobbed, trembling with fear, wondering why her brother was hurting her.

"Hmm." Arata looked up at the sky ponderously, as if thinking the question over. A moment later he looked back at her with an amused smirk. "Because I can." With that, he threw her back to the ground as hard as possible, which with his new found strength was agonizingly so. Arisu cried out in pain upon landing hard on her back. She rolled over and, sobbing, tried to crawl away.

She shut her eyes tightly and sobbed even harder in dismay when she felt a hand grab her and stop her.

"Where are you going, sis? We should be having fun!" Arata cackled and then sat down on her legs to pin her. Suddenly he had a thought and reached for her skirt and pulled it down. "Hmm, not bad for your age." He chuckled and reached for her underwear next and began to pull it down as well. Unfortunately for him before he could finish with that, another black cloud appeared.

Arata looked at it and frowned. "What?" He growled. "I'm trying to enjoy myself. A few hundred years down there makes you want to live it up when you get the chance, though admittedly this isn't the best body for it." The cloud seemed to roil slightly as if angered, causing Arata to sigh. "Are you sure you can't wait until I'm done?" The cloud just roiled more. "Fine, take her." He grumbled and got up, allowing the second cloud to enter the girl. After a few moment, Arisu rose and pulled her underwear and skirt up.

"You're a pig." She said to him, glaring with her hands on her hips. "This is the first thing you do, and with _children_?"

"What? Why not? I still have desires." Arata crossed his arms and looked at Arisu in annoyance.

Arisu paced back and forth slightly. "We have things to do besides messing around with the bodies of children. Now let's look through their heads and find out where they live. Do a good job and maybe I'll let you have her for a few minutes." She said temptingly, though it was hard to act sexy in the body of an eight year old girl.

"Whatever, you've ruined the mood. Children aren't really that good, she was just the only thing around at the time." Arata grumbled, and then shut his eyes and looked through the boy's mind. "That way." He pointed after a few moment.

"Good, let's go." Arisu nodded and turned to walk in that direction.

A short time later, a peaceful community knew horror like they'd never experienced before. Blood painted the walls.

**. . .**

It had been a week since the tremors, and in just over a day's time Jiraiya and Naruto would finally be back in Konoha. Naruto was getting more and more restless by the day, worried about what had happened, and just plain getting impatient. He was constantly nagging Jiraiya to travel faster and for longer periods of time; kinda like he was right now.

"Dammit Ero-sennin, you said it yourself you wanted to get back to Konoha!" Naruto complained when Jiraiya decided it was a good time to set up camp for the night.

"Naruto, do me a favor and look at the sky." Jiraiya requested, and crossed his arms, doing his best to keep calm. Naruto obeyed and looked up, noting the dark sky in stark contrast to the bright stars it contained.

"OK... it's dark with stars, so what?" Naruto looked back down at Jiraiya.

"It's been that way... FOR THREE HOURS!" Jiraiya finally blew. "I wanted to stop at dusk, but nooo, you made us keep going. It's probably past midnight now. We. Are. Stopping!" Jiraiya panted slightly when he was done.

"Feel better?" Naruto asked, eyebrow raised.

"A little, yes." Jiraiya shrugged.

"Wanna keep going?" Naruto suggested hopefully.

"NO!"

With that the two made camp, though only one of them really slept. Naruto was just too restless thinking about things. The tremors and clouds were constantly on his mind now. He wondered if people in Konoha had noticed it, or what had happened after that he couldn't see. He also though about his friends. Especially Sakura.

"I wonder what she looks like now..." Naruto muttered to himself, considering the... changes she may have gone through. He blushed slightly at the thoughts popping into his head and quickly tried to shake them away. "No, not Sakura-chan, don't think perverted things about Sakura-chan. Don't be like Jiraiya!" But it was hard, two years could change a lot of things. Like her figure. She had always been a bit less developed, but perhaps she was a late bloomer, perhaps- "DAMMIT!" He shouted, and then slapped his hands over his mouth. Fortunately his outburst didn't seem to have awoken Jiraiya. "I need to fall asleep..." He grumbled, wishing it was as easy as just wanting it to happen.

Naruto, who had finally been able to fall asleep, woke up only a few hours later along with the sun. He quickly got up and put on his jacket and packed his sleeping roll away. After a few more minor details, he was ready to go. Now to wake up Jiraiya. He took a deep breath and then shouted,

"Hey Ero-sennin, I think that squirrel is stealing your latest draft!" Naruto shouted, pointing into the forest frantically.

"Wh-what!" Jiraiya shot up, wide eyed and ready to torch some rodents.

"Just kidding, now come on let's get going!" Naruto grinned mischievously.

"Dammit gaki, sometimes I just want to tie you up and toss you in a river!" Jiraiya growled, but got up and began getting ready to move out. "Maybe I will..."

Once Jiraiya was ready, the two continued on their way to Konoha. Jiraiya began wishing he was a bit younger, as after a few hours of traveling at Naruto's pace, he had to admit he was getting a little out of breath. However, there was no way he was going to ask Naruto to slow down, that would only lead to ridicule and taunting. That or a tantrum.

Late that afternoon, Jiraiya was surprised to see the walls of Konoha in the distance, he didn't think they'd reach it this soon. Then again, Naruto had made them travel much faster than Jiraiya normally would have.

"Alright we're here!" Naruto shouted and dashed ahead, wanting to be on the other side of the walls. Now.

"Oi, calm down. It's not like there's going to be a welcoming party." Jiraiya said, but shook his head. Naruto probably hadn't heard him. He decided to walk a little faster, not wanting to fall too far behind the hyperactive moron.

Naruto ran and ran, and soon realized he was still a decent distance from the gates of Konoha. The large walls gave the illusion that he wasn't getting any closer, but after a few more minutes of non-stop sprinting, he reached the base of them. He stopped, panting slightly from excitement more than exertion. Part of him was a bit nervous and didn't want to enter the village. What would he say to people? What would he do first? Did anyone miss him? Why the hell was he thinking so much? He wasn't a thinking person, he was a rush in headfirst and hope not to run into a wall person!

"Well, I suppose I should wait for Jiraiya at least." Naruto muttered to himself. "But wait, why run all the way if I'm just going to wait for him!" He changed his mind, and then walked through the gates without further hesitation.

"Alright, who are y-... wait you look familiar..." Naruto heard, and looked to his left to see a pair of chuunin watching the gates from a small both. One had spiky brown hair with a bandage wrapped around his head that went over his nose. The other wore a bandanna on his head that also served as his head band.

"Hey come on, can't you see the head band?" Naruto pointed his thumb at his forehead and grinned.

"Ah, you're form here. Oh right, Uzumaki, the kid who took down Neji. Remember?" The guard with the bandages looked at his partner.

"Yeah, you're right. Been a while since I saw him." Bandanna nodded.

"Yeah, I kinda ran ahead. Jiraiya will be here in a minute or so too." Naruto laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, I suppose that'll make the day _slightly_ less boring." Bandages sighed.

"Oh suck it up Kotetsu, I'm bored too and you don't hear me complaining every five minutes." Bandanna lightly whacked Bandages/Kotetsu on the shoulder.

"Screw you Izumo, neither am I!" Kotetsu denied the accusation. While the two argued, Jiraiya finally arrived.

"Ah, good, you didn't disappear yet." Jiraiya said as he walked over. "Oh, hi guys. In case you haven't noticed: we're back." Jiraiya held his arms out as if to make himself more noticeable.

"That you are." Izumo nodded. "I think we can skip all the formalities and that bull shit, I'll just write your names down or something. You can head in.

"Thanks." Jiraiya nodded. He turned to glance at Naruto, but saw that the boy had already run into the village and climbed up onto a tall pole so he could have a better view. While Naruto was doing that, Jiraiya turned back to the two guards. "Hey, I have a question. Has anything weird been going on in the village?"

"Hmm, besides the earthquake, not really." Kotetsu shrugged. "Why?"

"So you felt it too." Jiraiya frowned and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "What about clouds?" He looked back at the two.

"Black ones?" Izumo asked.

"Yeah. Damn, this must be big. We saw and felt it too, but we were a week away from Konoha at the time. Thanks." Jiraiya nodded and then turned to walk over to Naruto. "Hey, get down from there. We should go see Tsunade!" He called up to the boy.

"Yeah, yeah alright. I was just looking around." Naruto replied, and then jumped down. "They added Tsunade to the monument while we were gone by the way."

"Oh yeah..." Jiraiya looked up at it. "Hm, people are gonna think she became the Hokage at a young age thanks to that thing." He chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, well, she's still baa-chan to me." Naruto grinned in amusement. He looked away from the monuments, and then saw a flash of pink in the crowds. His eyes widened, and then his grin grew. He quickly approached it and when he was right behind, he cleared his throat rather loudly. "Sakura-chan, pay more attention please." He said as if disciplining a young child. Sakura jumped slightly, startled, and turned around.

"Wh-... NARUTO!" Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't even noticed him until he spoke!

"Hehe, miss me?" Naruto grinned.

Sakura quickly composed herself and crossed her arms. "Why would I?"

"Oh come on, you know you did. Probably been checking the gate every day since two years passed." He smirked. "Am I right?" He leaned closer, trying to force out the desired answer. Sakura leaned away slightly, but couldn't hold a straight face for long.

"Oh, why bother! Of course I missed you!" She smiled. She would never say it, but she actually had been checking quite often. She would always make up some excuse or another that would give her a reason to be near the gates. She had actually just been heading back to Tsunade after she had given up on waiting for the day...

"Ha! I knew it!" Naruto thrust his fist into the air victoriously causing Sakura to giggle slightly in amusement.

"But did _you_ miss _me_?" Sakura asked, saying the words just a _little_ seductively.

"What? Of course I did? What the hell kind of question is that!" Naruto crossed his arms, as if upset by the question.

"Alright, calm down." Sakura giggled again. She couldn't help but admire how he'd grown. Taller, broader, and the colors of his jacket didn't clash quite as much. "You're taller than me now you know."

"Oh yeah, awesome!" Naruto grinned, noting that he was a whole head taller than Sakura now.

"So what about me? Do I look more... womanly?" Sakura asked, striking a slight pose and blushing a little.

"Hmmm..." Naruto looked her over, his gaze traveling to her chest for a moment. Secretly he was a little disappointed over that area. "Nope, you haven't changed a bit!" For the most part, he meant it in a good way. She'd always been pretty in his mind, and that certainly hadn't changed.

"Th-the same?" Sakura's jaw dropped. "DAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and lifted him off his feet.

"I... uhh... y-you're still really really really pretty?" Naruto whimpered in fear. Her anger hadn't changed either, so he'd thrown in an extra 'really' to try and calm her down.

"O-oh..." Sakura blushed intensely and lowered him. "Y-you're not just saying that to save your skin are you?" She crossed her arms warily.

"Of course not, I've always through you were pretty, why do you think I was always annoying you back then? Well, at least that's how you probably saw it." Naruto laughed nervously.

"_Whoa, nice save kid."_ Jiraiya thought. He'd been watching the entire conversation, and for a moment he'd thought he was out one apprentice.

"Right." Sakura said and then cleared her throat. "You probably want to see Tsunade-shishou right?"

Naruto decided to be purely honest in his answer. "Well I missed her too, but I was most excited about seeing you again." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "But... I probably should right? She'll want to know I'm back."

"Y-yeah." Sakura nodded, though she had to admit she was touched by his answer. "Come on, we can walk slow and talk on the way." She suggested.

"Sure!" Naruto grinned.

"Alright, have your little stroll." Jiraiya said. "I guess you're a lady's man now eh? I'll go on ahead I guess." And with that the sannin member let the now red-faced teens have some alone time while he went ahead to see his old teammate.

**. . .**

"Ugh, what is it now!" Tsunade growled upon hearing a knock on her door. As she had predicted a week ago, paperwork had _tripled_, and she was in a bad mood.

"Well, I guess someone's sober." Jiraiya said as he entered the room.

"Jiraiya! Wait, where's Naruto? You're in a good mood so I assume he's alive." Tsunade replied, pleasantly surprised.

"Oh, he's taking his time walking here with Sakura." Jiraiya waved the question off. "This is a good chance to talk about something before they arrive. However, I doubt there will be much to say."

"Oh dammit, not this crap again. I swear to god, if you say one word about a quakes or clouds I will forcefully remove you from this room. _Through a window_!" Tsunade slammed her hands down on her desk, causing a few papers to slide off of it.

"Alright, alright. I suppose you probably already know about as much as I do. I'm guessing a lot of those papers have to do with the event?" Jiraiya asked, taking a seat across from her.

"Yes. They're all bullshit and they all say the same thing. I swear, I could recite half of them without even reading them!" She sighed exasperatedly and leaned back in her chair. "You'd think after all this we'd have reports of _something_ important. Not just, 'oh, something happened but we don't know what!'"

"Hmm, well, no news is good news in some cases." Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe it looked worse than it really is."

"I'd like to think that, but I doubt it. For all we know it's really bad and it just hasn't reached us yet." Tsunade shook her head. "I'd rather have bad news than sit around here wondering."

Sadly, Tsunade was about to get her wish. Suddenly, a group of people burst into the room. They included Naruto, Sakura, Kotetsu, Izumo, and a very frightened man.

"What's going on!" Tsunade stood up quickly, instantly knowing something was wrong. Izumo stepped forward to answer,

"Hokage-sama." He began respectfully. "Shortly after Uzumaki-san and Jiraiya-sama arrived, this man..." He gestured to the frightened man. "... arrived as well. He says he... err... well I really don't know what he's talking about but it sounds bad. We ran into Uzumaki-san and Haruno-san on the way and they came with us."

"Alright, sir, tell me what's wrong. To be frank you look like hell." Tsunade said, looking the man over. He looked dehydrated, and the fact that he was drenched with sweat probably wasn't helping that. He was also very pale and kept looking around nervously as if he expected to be attacked.

"D-dead... all dead... blood everywhere." He whimpered. "Dead... dead... dead..."

"That's about all he said to us." Izumo scratched the back of his head, frowning. "I think he's a trader of some sort, looks like he didn't bring much of his stuff with him though."

"Ugh, Sakura, take him to the hospital, see if you can't calm him down and learn some more." Tsunade ordered. "Sorry." She added, knowing she probably wanted more time with Naruto, but this was important.

"Of course, it's fine." Sakura nodded and gently took the terrified man's arm to guide him to the hospital.

"Soooo... that make you feel better Tsunade?" Jiraiya glanced at his former teammate, slightly disturbed by what he'd just witnessed.

"Not really, no." Tsunade groaned, plopping back down into her chair. She could only wait, knowing that trouble was coming.

**. . .**

Sakura examined the man, and besides the complications that came with age, the only physical issue she could find was malnutrition. Clearly he had been so scared he had traveled the entire way to Konoha without eating, perhaps without sleeping. After giving him some drugs to calm him down, she attached an IV to his arm to help replenish the fluids in his body. Now she just had to wait.

Nearly an hour later the man still lay on the bed, trembling and wide eyed. Sakura herself shivered a little, wondering what kind of experience could break somebody's mind like that. She hoped she'd never have to find out. She thought back to what he'd said, 'D-dead... all dead... blood everywhere.' It was then she decided to try talking to him. If whatever this was was weighing so heavily on his mind, it shouldn't be too hard to get him to talk about it, right? He was already messed up, how much more harm could she do?

"Umm, could you tell me what happened? Who was dead?" She asked, trying to sound as nonthreatening as possible.

"E-everyone." He looked her in the eye, so intense was the horror on his face that Sakura had to take a step back.

"Everyone... where?" Sakura questioned again, trying to stay calm. It was easier said than done.

"Everywhere." The man whispered. "The ground, the walls... the ceilings... so much blood..." He whimpered, curling into the fetal position.

"_Th-the ceilings?"_ Sakura thought, suddenly feeling a bit sick. What the hell had happened? "But, what I mean is where on a map? What town or village?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know, after all, she'd likely end up hearing more details than she wanted to know if the place was investigated.

"Just a small place... always bought things... no more... no more..." The man sobbed. Sakura realized that this wasn't working, and sat down, deciding to wait more. After just a minute though, she had an idea. He clearly couldn't _tell_ her the answer, but maybe he could show her! She got up and ran down to the main reception area.

"Hey, do we have any maps in the storage area?" She asked the nurse acting as receptionist.

"We have building blueprints." The nurse replied, confused. "Why?"

"No, I mean like big maps that show all the countries! This is a ninja village, there must be something!" Sakura shouted.

"Calm down! I'll go check!" The nurse sighed in exasperation.

"Sorry, thank you." Sakura took a deep breath. For some reason the whole situation was giving her a slight anxiety attack. After a few minutes, the nurse came back with a rolled up map in her hands.

"Here, there was a little supply cache in the back in case the village is attacked." The nurse said. "Maps, weapons, all kinds of things."

"Thanks!" Sakura quickly grabbed the map and ran back to the room. She calmed herself before entering, figuring her nervous energy wasn't going to do the man any good. But she couldn't help it, form what he said, there had been people splattered on the _ceilings_. She realized that she was afraid if she found out the location, she might get sent there.

She took a deep breath and entered the room. She cleared off the small table next to the mans hospital bed and spread the map on it.

"Alright, you don't have to say anything, just point on the map where this place is." Sakura told him kindly, but firmly and then moved the map closer to him. The man looked at the map, still with the fear in his eyes, but then pointed to a spot on the map. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw that it was in their country! She quickly grabbed the pen from the patient clipboard attached to the end of his bed and circled the spot. "Thank you." She said quickly, and then ran out of the room. If this incident had happened in their own land, she had to tell Tsunade!

**. . .**

It was approaching the other end of the afternoon, and Tsunade was considering calling it quits a bit early to get a drink. Unfortunately for her, fate had other things in mind when Sakura burst into the room with a roll of paper in her hand.

"Did you learn something?" Tsunade asked, wondering why Sakura was breathing so hard. "Wait, did you just run the whole way here?"

"Y-yeah." Sakura nodded, still trying to catch her breath. "It's important, look!" She handed Tsunade the paper, which was the map she had shown the traumatized man. Tsunade opened it and then glanced at Sakura.

"A map?" The elder woman raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"Look, I circled the spot where whatever happened to that guy, well, happened." Sakura said, walking around Tsunade's desk so they could both look at the map together. Tsunade looked, and then here eyes widened.

"That's only a few days from here!" Tsunade said in startled realization. She though for a moment about what to do. Obviously this had to be investigated, and judging by the state of the man they shouldn't waste time. "Sakura, I hate to ask this of you, but-"

"You want me to go check it out?" Sakura cut her off, already knowing what she was going to say.

"Yes, go find Naruto, I sent him off to talk with Kakashi, so they might be together. If so, you three should go investigate this as soon as you can be ready. I know it's late, but we didn't choose this life because we thought it would be easy." Tsunade instructed.

"I understand." Sakura gave a slight bow and turned to leave, she had a few ideas of where the two might be.

"And Sakura." Tsunade called before Sakura could get through the door.

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou?" Sakura looked back over her shoulder.

"Be careful, we have no idea what you'll be running into. And tell Kakashi he has permission to pick anyone else he wants for this to join, just in case." Tsunade gave a weak smile to try and reassure her apprentice. "This is just a scouting mission, so you don't have to take any unnecessary risks."

"I'll be careful, besides, you know Naruto wouldn't let anything happen to me." Sakura smiled back.

"He'd better not or I'll kick his ass." Tsunade smiled more genuinely this time.

**. . .**

"Come on Kakashi-sensei, I don't see you for over two years and this is what you do when we see each other again!" Naruto complained. The spiky-silver haired man he was yelling at glanced at him before speaking.

"You're the one who gave me the book. It's not my fault Jiraiya is a literary genius." Kakashi said as he slowly read Jiraiya's latest Icha Icha book, savoring every paragraph. He barely felt worthy of reading the masterpiece.

"Ugh, if you ask me they're kinda lame." Naruto grumbled, pouting slightly.

"Hey, I don't insult your ramen do I?" Kakashi glared at Naruto with startling intensity.

"W-well you like ramen too, that's not a fair comparison!" Naruto argued, though he knew his attempts were futile. Kakashi's love for Icha Icha was far more powerful than any argument he could ever think of.

"Fair enough, but that doesn't change anything." Kakashi shrugged, flipping to the next exciting page.

"Ugh, well, I suppose there's no point in talking really, you clearly haven't changed, probably nothing interesting to say anyway." Naruto grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Kakashi glanced at the boy, and then sighed, and with great effort managed to close his book.

"Alright, you win, let's talk for a bit. What did Jiraiya manage to teach you?" The jounin asked.

"Hehe, well, I actually managed to improve the rasengan!" Naruto grinned.

"Really? Impressive, what else?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow. It was times like this he really regretted his past decisions when it came to how he dealt with his team. Naruto, and especially Sakura, had improved so much... and both of them had done so without his help. He truly wished he could claim at least partial responsibility for their recent growth.

"Well-" Unfortunately just as their conversation had begun, it was interrupted.

"Finally, there you are!" The two looked over and found that it was Sakura.

"Oh, hey there Sakura, what's up?" Kakashi asked. Something told him he wouldn't be getting to chapter six any time soon...

"We have an assignment from Tsunade." Sakura replied. She quickly told Kakashi about the man and what he had said. "I managed to figure out where it happened, and Tsunade wants us to go investigate. She said we can bring anyone else we want with us."

"I see, well it could turn out to be nothing for all we know, though I doubt that from what you've said. However, it likely took him some time to get here, so whatever happened is probably long over, so we probably won't need much assistance." Kakashi muttered, thinking things over. "Alright, we'll each go get ready, and if we run into anybody on the way home or to the gate, we can ask them to come with us, but let's try to limit it to just one person each, like I said, it's probably all over anyway."

"Sounds good sensei!" Naruto nodded.

"Hm, I didn't realize how much I missed being called that everyday." Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Now go get packed, it's gonna be a few days journey at least."

**. . .**

At that time of day, many people were at home, so they weren't many they could ask to join them. However, Sakura took a slight detour that took her past Ino's residence and caught her closing up her family's flower shop. It took a little coaxing, but she managed to convince her friend-turned-rival-turned-friend to go along with them.

When all were packed, they rendezvoused at the gate. It turned out that Ino was the only one joining them.

"Did you fill Ino in, Sakura?" Kakashi asked before they departed.

"Yeah, she did... not sure I'm thrilled to be going along, but whatever." Ino shrugged.

"Yeah, it sounds pretty gruesome, but I'm hoping that we'll just be dealing with the aftermath." Kakashi nodded. "Anyway, we're all ready it seems, so let's go." And with that, the quartet of ninjas departed the village.

While the sun still hung just above the horizon, the two blonds in the group took note of each others new appearance, though they didn't let the other know. Naruto's impression was that Ino was rather attractive, and her new outfit showed off a lot of skin. She had "physically matured" quite nicely. She wasn't attractive enough to make him forget Sakura of course, but being a guy he couldn't help but notice.

Ino on the other hand was quite single and currently didn't have any men she was preoccupied with. She had never paid much attention to Naruto, but now that he was older he was something to look at. He was at the age that his shoulders and chest were broadening, and a ninja's lifestyle only amplified that. Secretly, she wondered what he would look like with his jacket off. He would undoubtedly be more attractive than her teammates. Shikamaru didn't focus enough on the physical aspects of Ninjitsu and was a bit too scrawny for her liking. And while Chouji carried his lard much better these days, he was still fat.

**. . .**

The night before their final march to their destination, the four of them were sitting around a small fire.

"So, what's changed since I was gone? Didn't get much of a chance to talk with everything that happened." Naruto asked, leaning against a tree.

"Well, pretty much everyone is at least chuunin." Sakura said, smiling amusedly upon seeing Naruto's shocked expression.

"W-well, that's cool I guess..." The _genin_ replied. Naruto had been away with Jiraiya, and thus was still the lowest rank of ninja.

"Oh don't forget, Neji became a jounin." Ino spoke up.

"WHAT?" Naruto shot up, nearly choking in surprise. "J-jounin?"

"Just like me, yep." Kakashi nodded, and then returned to his book. The two girls gave him dirty looks for reading such smut in their presence, but then went back to giggling over Naruto's reaction to Neji's promotion.

"Hmph, I still kicked his ass." Naruto sat back down, pouting with his arms crossed.

"Oh, and Gaara's the new Kazekage." Kakashi added casually. Sakura and Ino winced, they knew Naruto wouldn't stay quiet about that.

"Oh... well... that's nice." Naruto said calmly, though he had a blank, far off look in his eyes, as if all the life had flown out of him. "He's a kage now... good for him..." He continued in a rather creepy, lifeless monotone.

"N-Naruto, are you OK?" Sakura asked, leaning closer to him.

". . . OH COME ON! THAT'S BULLSHIT! SOMEONE MADE KAGE BEFORE ME? BAD ENOUGH I DIDN'T GET TO BE THE SIXTH HOKAGE, BUT SOMEONE MY AGE BEAT ME TO THE KAGE POSITION? AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Naruto finally blew up, causing the other three to wince at the volume of his voice.

"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Ino groaned. "He'll probably be bitching for the next hour..."

"Probably." Sakura replied with an exasperated sigh.

"Heh, sorry." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head apologetically.

**. . .**

The day after Naruto's fit, they were finally approaching their destination. It turned out to be a small town located between two hillsides and a forest, with the fourth side being the only real entrance or exit.

"Well, are you all ready? No telling what we're about to walk into, but it could be pretty bad. Going by what Sakura got from the trader, we might experience some nasty stuff, and I doubt any of you have experienced anything truly horrible before. If we do see things like that, and you feel overwhelmed, don't hesitate to take a break." Kakashi said before they entered.

"I suppose I was bound to see bad stuff eventually, comes with the territory." Ino muttered.

"I'm a medic-nin, if I get sick at the sight of blood I'm not cut out for the job." Sakura said confidently. Naruto however said nothing, just nodding slightly.

"Alright then, let's go." Kakashi said and walked down the dirt road leading into the town, the other three following close behind. As the village came into sight, so did the first signs of violence. Before they even passed the first structure, they could see shapes lying around. Likely those were bodies.

"Yeah, something happened here alright." Kakashi shook his head as they walked further in. Once they were closer, there was no longer any doubt. The shapes were bodies, and they were all mangled in some way or another.

It looked almost like an animal attack, as the bodies were slashed wide open, and some had limbs missing. Most had maggots crawling around the wounds, feasting on the flesh as it rotted. Flies crawled in and out of the openings of the corpses, depositing yet more eggs. Naruto gagged slightly when, upon realizing it had been spotted by him, an animal dashed forth to grab a dismembered limb and then ran away into the forest with it. Ino nearly lost it when she saw a crow peck at a body's eye until it came free of its socket; and then fight off the rest of its flock to keep the shriveled morsel.

Sakura noticed an open door, and compelled by morbid curiosity, stuck her head inside to take a look. The stench hit her first, ten times worse than the smell of rot outside. Next she staggered back from the sight; blood, guts, limbs, and things she had only seen in text books were strewn about. Gore coated nearly every surface - including the ceiling. Naruto moved to steady her, but before he could reach her she fell to her hands and knees and emptied her stomach violently.

"D-don't go in there..." Sakura whimpered, trembling. "Just... don't..."

"Get out of here guys, I've been in wars, I'll be fine. You three don't need to experience this just yet." Kakashi said somberly, pitying his former student, and hoping to spare them all any further trauma.

"I-I'll be fine. Just don't make me go in the buildings and I'll be fine." Sakura shook her head, trying to stand. However her body was shaking and her voice was cracking. It took both Naruto and Ino assisting her to get her back on her feet.

"Come on Sakura, this place is like hell, and you're shaking like a leaf! Let's go!" Ino urged, she herself feeling sick to her stomach.

"What use am I if I can't handle this!" Sakura argued, pushing Ino away. She stumbled slightly, but managed to keep her feet.

"Hey!" Ino protested, but Kakashi touched her shoulder and gestured for her to stay calm. He then glanced inside the building that had traumatized Sakura so much and instantly regretted it. Only that fact that previous horrors had desensitized him and his many years of experience kept his own bowels in check.

"Sakura, it's normal to feel this way." He said softly, turning back to the three. "Even I feel sick. The sad fact is though that I'm more used to it. Go." He ordered sternly. "You don't need to see any more of this."

Sakura stared back, trying to keep a tough front up, but she couldn't do it. She quickly broke down, trembling more with tears flowing form her eyes. "Y-you're right, I don't want to see any more!" She sobbed, turned, and ran away.

"You guys too. Besides, Sakura needs you." Kakashi gestured for Ino and Naruto to leave as well.

"R-right." Naruto nodded, though he had already planned on going. The bodies out in the open were bad enough. "Come on." He said to Ino and moved to follow Sakura. Ino didn't argue.

Sakura ran and ran until the town was out of sight and then collapsed onto her hands and knees. Her breathing was erratic, she was practically hyperventilating. She couldn't wipe the memory of what she'd seen from her mind. It was like a slide show from hell. She would forced one image away, but another would take it's place. One moment it was intestines plastered to a wall, and the next it was a rotting limb that was too small to have belonged to an adult, and then it was a skull caked in blood and pieces of rotting flesh, staring at her hollowly. That one room, that one glance had made her witness to so many horrors. It was too much for her, and once again she retched, and then again and again until there was nothing left and she curled up into the fetal position.

That was the state Naruto and Ino found Sakura in when they arrived, curled up next to a pile of her own vomit.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto whispered, not sure what he could do. He reached forward, but then hesitated. Wold Sakura let him comfort her? What could he say? He felt helpless, he himself felt sick anyway, what could he do!

"Just be quiet and don't say anything stupid." Ino muttered to him somewhat harshly and then went over to Sakura. She took Sakura in her arms, and cradled her head in her lap. "It'll be OK Sakura, you're strong, you'll be fine." Ino whispered gently. In the past, she had comforted her and protected her many times before Sakura had become emotionally strong enough to handle herself. It saddened Ino to see Sakura even worse than she had been the first time they'd met, but she couldn't blame her. Dismembered people were far and away more traumatizing than a few chafing remarks about her forehead.

"Y-you didn't see it." Sakura whimpered, tears still steadily flowing from her eyes.

"Would it make you feel better if I did? Because I swear, I'll go stand in that room for five whole minutes if that's what it'll take for you to feel better!" Ino declared firmly. However, Sakura just grabbed Ino's skirt to keep her from leaving and shook her head slightly.

**. . .**

Meanwhile, Kakashi continued to look through the bloody little town for clues as to what happened. So far he'd figured out the town's layout. It was divided into three rings. There was a small inner ring of about six houses, a second larger ring of maybe thirteen houses, and then cuddled up to the two bordering hillsides were groups of about seven or eight houses each. Kakashi figured that meant just over a hundred residents, but he had only seen about twenty or thirty bodies. He figured the rest were probably plastered to the walls in houses like the one that had traumatized Sakura.

The inner ring created what Kakashi decided was a main square. Kakashi jumped down from a rooftop back into the open area, thinking. As he thought, he approached a well at the very center of the town. He glanced in, and kinda wished he hadn't, for the well contained a few waterlogged body parts. He shook his head, where in this town couldn't you find an instance of horror?

At the moment, he had a vague theory of what had happened. The people of the town had not seen this coming, and the chaos had likely started from within the town. Chances are, quite a few had been killed before anyone had know what was happening, people being butchered methodically in their own homes. Then things had probably gone faster, quick yet brutal kills until the entire town had been in a panic, running for the exit, but killed before they could escape. That was his theory for why so many bodies littered the square.

He had said he had more experience with such things, that he could handle this. He was starting to think he had been wrong. He had seen death, much death in the past. However, he'd never seen this level of brutality, and certainly not so much of it in one place. It was as if the intent of the killer or killers was not necessarily to kill all the inhabitants, but to make as horrific a spectacle as possible.

"I need to get out of here." Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his hair. He wanted to leave, but he figured he should take one quick walk through the entire town to make sure he didn't miss anything important.

Kakashi walked around the square and then, upon finding nothing but a few bodies he hadn't noticed before, moved out into the secondary circle. He found much fewer bodies here, but they were just as rotted, picked upon by animals, and brutally killed as the rest. He was about to call it quits when he thought he heard something. In a split second he had slipped into a fighting stance and pulled out kunai. He surveyed the area carefully, but didn't see anything. At least, he didn't see anything right away. He calmed down after a moment, but didn't put the kunai away. He knew he'd heard something.

Realizing he wasn't alone anymore, he knew he'd have to complete his search, and be extra thorough. It was not a pleasant realization, as he knew he might have to go into a house and crawl through a mound of gore. As he continued to patrol the secondary ring, he heard another noise. It sounded like a whimper. For a second he thought maybe a scavenging animal was trying to hide from him, but no, it sounded too human. He took a few more steps and heard it again. This time he knew where it was coming from.

Two buildings were close together, forming a wedge shaped space in between them. There was enough of a gap that one could see into the square from the secondary ring, but not enough room to squeeze through. Meaning whoever was in the space was trapped between a wall and Kakashi. Kakashi slowly approached the wedge space until he could see into it clearly. He almost let his guard down upon seeing the source of the noise; two young children. Almost, because even children could be dangerous in the world he lived in.

"Who are you?" Kakashi asked, trying not to sound too threatening. He received no answer. Upon closer inspection, he decided they were in no shape to talk. They were trembling, covered in blood that probably wasn't theirs, and probably starving. He could tell from their eyes that they were traumatized. They were no threat. "It's alright, I won't hurt you." He held his hand out to them.

The two looked back at him, and then they suddenly ran over to him, sobbing. Kakashi was startled, as he hadn't expected that, however he did his best to comfort them by patting them on the back. After a hew moments he decided to carry them back to where the rest of his team should be.

**. . .**

"Feel any better Sakura?" Ino asked, craning her neck so she could look into Sakura's eyes.

"Not really." Sakura replied quietly. She had stopped shaking and crying, but she still felt terrible. She felt sicker than she'd ever felt before. The images had stopped their little sideshow from hell in her mind, but they still popped up every now and then, and just as vividly.

"Maybe talking about it would help?" Naruto suggested.

"The memories are bad enough, I don't want to..." Sakura muttered, closing her eyes, and regretting it as a fresh wave of said memories assaulted her.

"But people always say talking helps." Naruto argued, sitting down across from Ino and Sakura.

"No." Sakura said more forcefully, opening her eyes again and glaring.

"Please? I wanna help." Naruto whined, almost as if he was asking for a new toy.

"I said no!" Sakura growled and got up, walking away with arms crossed.

"H-hey wait!" Naruto got up to follow her.

"Naruto, don't." Ino tried to stop him, but he ignored her.

Sakura didn't so much have her arms crossed, more like she was hugging herself, a few new tears going down her cheeks. She knew Naruto meant well, but his suggestion to talk about it just seemed to make more images come to mind. As they flashed through her mind, her training let her name almost all of the pieces and parts as they lay coated in blood. That didn't help at all, it just made it so she could be even more horrified by the carnage.

"Sakura!" Naruto called out when he caught up to her.

"Go away Naruto..." Sakura mumbled, not even turning around to look at him.

"I... well... I don't like seeing you upset. I can tell it's really bothering you, why won't you at least try talking?" Naruto asked.

"It's not that easy, that's why." Sakura grumbled, some of her emotions turning into anger and frustration.

"Come on, you haven't even tried." Naruto tried grinning, even though she wasn't looking at him.

"Fine! You want me to talk?" Sakura growled, turning to face him suddenly. "I saw about ten dead people in one spot! Literally the same spot! Not just piled up, but mixed together in a little meat shake! It looked like someone decided to take them, and then drain all their blood so they could paint the walls with it, and then use their organs for garlands! And it made me feel sick, alright? ARE YOU HAPPY? NOW SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" She punctuated her words with a resounding slap to Naruto's face. With her strength, Naruto actually stumbled back and fell to a knee. Both of them seemed equally shocked by her outburst.

After a few moments Naruto smiled slightly. "Feel better?"

"Well, a little actually..." Sakura laughed weakly. "Umm, I-I'm sorry I hit you, I just... well... I"

"I'm used to it Sakura. In fact you've done worse in the past so don't worry about it." Naruto grinned as he got up.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better about it." Sakura sighed, hanging her head in shame.

"I deserved most of them, so forget about it. I'm trying to make you feel better, not guilty." Naruto walked over to her and patted her on the back. Sakura looked at him, smiling even though she had tears in her eyes.

"Thank you Naruto." She said, voice breaking a little.

"You're crying again..." Naruto pointed out worriedly.

"I'm happy so don't worry." Sakura wiped her eyes. Maybe happy wasn't the right word, but she was definitely grateful. "Let's get back to Ino."

**. . .**

Kakashi carried the two children in his arms up the slight incline towards where Naruto, Sakura, and Ino were. Upon arriving he noticed, with both surprise and relief, that Sakura seemed to be feeling better.

"_I doubt she realizes it, but she's a very strong girl. As a ninja and a person."_ Kakashi thought. Sakura had taken her emotions from Sasuke's betrayal, and instead of being dragged down by them, had used them to fuel her amazing transformation into a much stronger kunoichi. He was now pleasantly surprised to see that she could bounce back from the horrors of war. Of course this wasn't a war, but it sure looked like one... if not worse than.

When he got closer the three noticed him and his cargo, and quickly ran over.

"There were survivors?" Ino asked, obviously surprised. As was Kakashi himself.

"Yeah, I found them hiding between two buildings, but they won't talk to me." Kakashi sighed. "Maybe one of you girls could try, I might be too intimidating."

"Sure." Sakura quickly stepped forward. "Come here." She said softly to the children, and took them from Kakashi. Being smaller then him it was awkward holding two children, but, with her strength from Tsunade's training, she managed. She moved away and then sat down so they could sit on her lap instead of her having to hold them.

"So, how about we start with your names." Sakura asked pleasantly, hoping if she looked happy the two might pick up on it. It was a faint hope however, as they were covered in dried or drying blood and smelled terrible. However, after a few moments the two looked up at her.

"Arata." The boy said.

"Arisu." The girl.

* * *

**DUHN DUHN DUUUUUHN! **

**I hope I didn't make anyone _too_ sick. Just mildly horrified is good for me.**

**So there it is, chapter one, and what a chapter it is! It just might be my greatest work yet. I put extra effort in when it came to dialog and describing things.**

**I respond to all reviews! So leave some, yeah? I just edited this fic (was surprisingly messy) and resubmitted this chapter, so chapter 2 will be going up later on 6/11/11! Just gotta give it one last look-see. Point is, if someone leaves a new review between now and then, it won't appear in Ch2 most likely. I may respond to it in Ch3 though! Whenever that happens...  
**


	2. Waking Nightmares

**OK, didn't get much response from chapter one, but that's fine. I'll just keep doin' good and hope that the second chapter will get the ball rolling. Now I'm thinking maybe the whole 'supernatural' thing might have been off putting for some. Maybe you think I'm making some sort of retarded AU fic that completely departs from everything you know. I'm not. Pay attention and keep an open mind and I think you might enjoy this. **

**Or perhaps my ridiculously long pre-fic section annoyed you...**

**And I'm giving a shout-out to the one person who left me a review: Moldock. **

**To you my good reader I say: damn straight this shit is good! And I have no clue what you meant about pictures. Anyhow, thanks for the response.**

* * *

**Waking Nightmares**

Two cloaked figures strode through a sandstorm, fighting fierce winds and scorching heat. Along with their black cloaks, detailed with red clouds, they wore large straw hats that helped conceal their identities.

"Damn this desert is hot! The wind doesn't help at all, un!" One spoke. He was a quite a bit taller than the other who seemed fat and hunched over.

"Deal with it." His partner replied.

"How can you stand it inside that thing, it must smell like fifteen flavors of ass!" The first continued, his mood deteriorating rapidly in the terrible weather.

"Be quiet." The second grumbled slightly, not wanting to deal with his partner's increasingly frequent complaints.

"Yeah yeah, what-..." The first suddenly stopped, just barely noticing something moving in the distance. "... the hell is that, un?" He lifted up his hat, revealing long blond hair, and then brushed aside his bangs so he could use the camera mounted on his left eye to get a better view of whatever it was.

"What do you see Deidara?" The shorter one asked as a large scorpion-like tail slithered out from the back of his cloak.

"I see... well... it's...what the hell _is_ that?" Deidara took a step back.

"Tell me what it is, I can't see as well as you can!" Deidara's partner ordered.

"Dammit Sasori, I don't know! It doesn't even look human!" Deidara shouted back. "This damn sandstorm isn't helping, un!"

"Well what _does_ it look like?" Sasori asked, wary, but not overly concerned.

"Well... it's getting closer." Deidara peered through his eye-camera, trying to make out the shape of the thing through the sand. "It's... actually kinda human shaped, but it's... coming right at us!" Suddenly the thing had broken into a run and was barreling right for them. It closed in rapidly, and Deidara could finally make out its appearance. Gangly with dull gray, wrinkled skin and pointed ears. It may have had arms and legs like a human, but it most certainly wasn't.

Deidara decided he wasn't interested in what it was, and reached into the pouches he kept at his waist,

"I'm blowing this thing a new asshole!" He shouted as the mouths on his hands began chewing at the clay he'd gotten from his pouches.

"Fine, just don't overdo it." Sasori muttered, curling his tail forward defensively.

"Whatever it is, it's not gonna be that for much longer!" Deidara held out his hands, and two clay birds were formed, and then flew off on a collision course for the strange creature. The thing clawed at one of the birds when it got close, but Deidara just made a single hand seal. "KATSU!" He shouted, and suddenly the two birds detonated in a brilliant orange cloud of fire.

"Is it dead?" Sasori asked, glancing over at his partner.

"Of course it's dead, that was a direct hit, un!" Deidara replied with a satisfied smirk. Explosions always improved his mood. "Now let's keep going, I know how impatient you get." He went on, took one step, and went wide eyed when suddenly another one of the creatures burst out of the sand right in front of him. He had just enough time to raise an arm to defend himself before it lunged. The ghoulish creature bit down onto his arm, razor teeth cutting deep into his flesh. "OH FUCK GET IT OFF!" He beat at it with his other hand, but to no avail as the monster simply bit down harder.

Fortunately, Sasori quickly directed his tail to stab the beast viciously, ripping it off of Deidara... along with a hunk of arm flesh.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Deidara clutched the profusely bleeding wound. "I said to get it off, not maim me!" He complained vociferously.

"Fine, next time instead of killing it, I'll let it consume you." Sasori muttered, shaking his head slightly. "Can you keep going?"

"If I don't bleed to death, maybe!" Deidara growled, and lifted his hand away from the bite wound. "Shit that's deep! I think I can see bone, un!" Deidara felt a little sick. Seeing blown open enemies was one thing, but his own ulna was another. He quickly found some supplies he'd packed to wrap it, and halted most of the blood-flow.

Meanwhile, Sasori had shuffled over to the dead creature and was inspecting it. It had the shape of a human, but was horribly emaciated with sunken eyes and bony limbs ending in fingers and toes with long, thick, and _sharp_ nails.

"You're right, it's not human. But I don't know what it is." Sasori said, though his voice portrayed little interest or curiosity.

"As long as it's dead I don't really give a shit! It tried to _eat_ me!" Deidara replied angrily.

"You done with the bandages? I want to keep going." Sasori turned back in the direction they were supposed to be going.

"Yeah yeah, I'm ready, un." Deidara shook his head, gave one last self-pitying glance at his wound, and moved to follow Sasori. He managed about three steps before he stumbled. "C-crap."

His complaint drew a sigh from Sasori. "What now?"

"I-I don't feel so good, un. Maybe I lost too much blood. Kinda... lightheaded." Deidara stumbled again, his vision going blurry then. His stomach felt like it had flipped itself upside down. "Y-you don't think it was venomous or something do you?" He slurred, his legs wobbling as he continued to stumbled back and forth.

Sasori sighed loudly and trudged over to his sick partner.

"Maybe. Or you could be in shock from the wound." The puppet master peered closely at Deidara. He noticed a few symptoms associated with blood loss, but, being very adept at poisons, he noted a few other abnormalities. For one, it seemed like Deidara was bleeding into his eyes, and that was not a side effect of an arm wound.

"So... we... we uh... gonna keep goin'... un?" Deidara mumbled, legs quivering excessively.

"No." Sasori grumbled. He hated to admit it, but he probably needed Deidara to pull off their assignment, which happened to be kidnapping a kage. The jinchuriki Gaara to be specific. "Can you make one of your birds? I don't want to have to carry you back. I doubt you can walk."

"Walk? 'C-'course I can..." Deidara waved Sasori off almost lazily, took a step, and fell flat on his face. ". . . un."

". . ." Sasori shook his head. Not only did he have to call off the mission, thus making their leader wait to get the Ichibi from Gaara, but he had to carry his annoying and now sick partner out of the desert.

**. . .**

"Are you sure you're O.K.?" Tsunade asked again. Sakura had lost track of how many times she'd asked. Sometimes it felt like having a second mother, and both of them could be extremely bitchy. At least right now Tsunade was just being concerned.

"Of course, it was pretty nasty, but Naruto snapped me out of it. You know him, he's an idiot but he makes up for it in miracles." Sakura giggled.

"Really? Then I suppose you've been working over time, because if you're fine those bags under your eyes _certainly_ can't be from nightmares keeping you up at night." Tsunade folded her hands together and rested her chin on them, peering at Sakrua suspiciously.

"Exactly, I've been taking extra time to keep an eye on the two children we brought back. I mean none of the blood on them was theirs, but still, mentally it must have been horrible..." Sakura's tone turned somber. If just five seconds in a room had turned her into a shivering wreck, what must witnessing it happen have been like?

"Alright, alright. But try and get more sleep, you're making me worry. I have enough to deal with as it is." Tsunade sighed, waving for Sakura to leave as she got back to her dreaded paperwork. Sometimes she cursed the day she met Naruto...

**. . .**

Sakura sat up in her bed. Something smelled strange in her house. It was strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite think of what it was. Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant. She grumbled a she headed to the stairs down to the first floor of her house. She_ really _needed more sleep, and this stench wasn't helping!

As she reached the bottom, the smell became overpowering. She felt sick, like she was going to throw up from it, but she managed to hold it in with a little willpower. She couldn't see, as it was pitch black, so she began walking, heading for a light switch. As she walked, the floor felt strange, as if it was coated in syrup or something equally sticky. At times, it was just plain squishy. Forget sleep, right now she just wanted to _see_. She found where the light switch was supposed to be, but it wasn't there, which she thought was strange... very strange.

She figured she'd have to keep looking for some source of light and kept walking. Suddenly though, she tripped over something and landed face first on the floor. Now her entire body felt like it was sticking to the floor. Whatever had been sticking to her feet was now all over her face and body.

"Wh-what is this?" She whimpered, confused and scared. It smelled awful, whatever it was. Suddenly, as if to answer her question, the room began to grow lighter. Her eyes widened when she could finally see. Her entire house was coated in blood, floor to ceiling. It was splattered everywhere.

She tried to push herself up, but it was impossible, she was glued to the floor by the blood... which made no sense, but it seemed to be the cause. She tried to scream, but only a weak whimper came out. Her eyes darted around in her panic until they fell upon something that, while only a few feet from her face, she hadn't noticed before. Lying on the floor in front of her was a skull. For some reason it captured her gaze and she couldn't look a way.

Without warning blood began to ooze out of the skull's eye sockets. Slowly at first, but the blood began to flow faster and faster until the flow reached her and began to splash onto her face. She struggled to rise once again, but to no avail. She could only whimper in fear as she seemed to have lost her voice. Closing her eyes didn't work either, as if her eyelids had become transparent.

Viscous blood continued to flow freely from the skull, more than could have ever fit within it. So much that it was actually filling up the entire room. At this rate, within only minutes it would completely submerge Sakura. And being stuck to the floor, it would only take another inch or so to drown her. Soon, she began to feel it trickle into her mouth, and so she quickly shut it and tried to breathe through her nose; though for some reason she found that difficult as if she had a cold.

Suddenly she felt pain on the back of her head and the bloody room mercifully faded away. She still felt like it was hard to move, but this time because something was wrapped around her. She struggled and suddenly heard the sound of fabric tearing. She realized her eyes were closed and opened them. She found herself lying on the floor in her room next to her bed, wrapped in her now torn sheets.

"Dammit, not again..." She grumbled tiredly and extricated herself from her ruined bed sheets. She rubbed the back of her head sorely. She must have hit it when her nightmare induced struggling caused her to fall off her bed. On the bright side, it had woken her from the terrible dream.

Naruto had helped her recover from the initial shock, and she could still manage day-to-day life, but she was having these nightmares on a regular basis now. At this rate, day-to-day might _not_ be possible as she was barely getting any sleep.

**. . .**

A cloaked and hooded figure grudgingly walked down a forested road. The road happened to lead to Konoha. He walked with quick step, as if rushed. His gaze was aimed down at the ground. At least, it was until he came within sight of Konoha's walls. He stopped and squinted, looking up at the huge walls.

"Hmph, so this is what the world has become eh? Interesting..." He smirked, and then continued his way towards the village.

**. . .**

Sakura walked into the Konoha hospital, yawing and rubbing her eyes in an attempt to keep sleep at bay. It was pretty bad when she had to do that at eight in the morning.

"Oh, Sakura-san, good morning." The receptionist greeted her cheerily.

"H-hey." Sakura waved tiredly.

"More sleep trouble?" The girl at the desk asked.

"Unfortunately." Skura groaned and shook her head slightly, trying to wake herself up a bit. She then headed to the stairs to the second floor where she would start her rounds.

"Oh, are you heading up to the children's room?" The receptionist asked, referring to Arisu and Arata, the two children that Kakashi had found in the massacred village.

"Yeah, why?" Sakura answered and turned her head back to look at the receptionist.

"Hisako-san went up to check on them earlier but never came back. I haven't heard from her at all." The receptionist sighed in annoyance. Hisako, one of the nurses, was good enough at her job, but was a bit of an airhead. "I'm sure she's just keeping them company or something, but she has a job to do."

"Right right, I'll send her back down when I get there." Sakura nodded, and the continued on up to the second floor. When she got to the room, she opened the door, and immediately noticed three thing. One, the blinds were drawn, two, the lights were off, and three, it seemed to be empty.

She warily took a few steps in to look around, but the door suddenly slammed shut behind her. She immediately turned around to see what had happened... and that's when she discovered what had become of Hisako. She was sitting, propped up against the wall, with her chest torn open.

"Hisa-" Sakura tried to scream, but she was suddenly slammed against the wall by an invisible force. She felt a pressure on her throat that kept her from speaking, but still allowed her to breathe a little.

"Lovely, another one already. This is turning out to be _such_ a good day!" She heard a young male voice exclaim, and saw Arata walk out from the room's small bathroom. Arisu walked out after him. "Hmm, not quite as full figured as the last one though." Arata mused, sounding disappointed. "Not that it matters, this pathetic body is terrible for having fun in."

Sakura found it very disturbing to hear such a young boy talk in such a manner. Though it was not nearly as disturbing as the look on his face. It was a hungry, violent look that no child should ever have.

"Maybe I'll take yours, though I detest women as they're almost as hard to have fun in as children. You know, I experimented once. I rode these poor, unsuspecting bastards, but I suppose it's hard to keep an erection when all your blood is pouring out your neck. Twice I tried, but the men never climaxed." Arata ranted, pacing back in forth while Sakura could do nothing but listen in disgusted horror. "As a man though, I can have fun to my hearts content!" Arata laughed maliciously. "Seduce the local women, and just when they're at the height of their ecstasy, cut them open. But there's no reason to stop, because you can keep going with women even as they're dying! I've done it numerous times with delicious success! I'd show you what I mean, but as I said this body is rather pathetic. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to fetch me a male nurse. No? Too bad." Arata laughed again, but more darkly. "I suppose I should just kill you and get it over with then."

Sakura had to do something, and she'd have to rely on herself as she couldn't call for help. Whatever this evil child was doing was making her body almost completely paralyzed. But no, not paralyzed, just pinned. Perhaps she could overpower it with the strength she had gained from Tsunade!

"Would you like to do it this time my dear?" Arata turned to Arisu, smirking sadistically.

"Shut up, pervert." The girl grumbled. "Do not speak to me like that!"

"Pervert? I'm offended! You've done your share of things to men, haven't you?" Arata argued. Well, at least they weren't focusing on killing at the moment. And it was a moment Sakura wasn't about to waste. She gathered her chakra to fuel her strength and did her best to raise her arm away from the wall, but Arata saw.

"Ah ah ah, naught naughty." Arata raised a hand and Sakura's arm was slammed back into the wall. Which is exactly what she wanted. When her hand, now a fist, struck the wall she released her chakra in a powerful burst that shattered the wall. The force that had once pinned her now sent her flying away from the murderous children. "DAMMIT, YOU WHORE!" Arata shouted, enraged. Now the entire building was alerted.

"We should leave now." Arisu sighed and, with a wave of her hand, shattered the window to the outside and lew the blinds aside.

"Why? We'll just slaughter them all like we did the other village!" Arata protested vehemently.

"These are not all regular humans, we would eventually be overwhelmed." Arisu hissed dangerously, and then leapt out the window. Arata gave Sakrua one last angry glance, and then followed Arisu.

Sakura was immensely relieved that they had fled. She'd been worried they were going to kill her before they left. That didn't make the situation any less traumatizing though. The things they'd said. What they'd done to Hisako. What they'd done to that village. She was having recurring nightmares about drowning in blood because of them. She didn't think such monsters existed, creatures with supernatural powers who stole bodies. Even Orochimaru was simply a human using forbidden jutsu. Whatever was in those children.. she wasn't sure she wanted to know what they were.

It didn't take long for nurses and doctors to arrive on the scene, and even a few chuunin.

"Sakura-san?" One of the nurses rushed to her side. "What happened?"

"Th-they weren't normal..." Sakura whimpered, doing her best to move into a sitting position while her entire body trembled.

"Who?" The nurse didn't understand. Of course she didn't, no ones first guess would be that two children slaughtered a nurse and pinned Sakura to a wall.

"The children... they're not normal... they almost killed me..." She managed to explain it a bit more clearly.

**. . .**

Tsunade may have been the Hokage, but she was also the senior medic-nin in the village. In fact, medics in all of the countries would probably consider her their senior. This meant that when she heard about trouble in the hospital, involving her apprentice no less, she went to investigate it personally.

"Sakura! What happened?" Tsunade asked worriedly when she saw the haunted look on her student's face upon arrival in the hospital lobby.

"Th-those children weren't victims..." Sakura looked up at her sensei. "They're the ones who massacred that village. They've already killed someone here in the hospital."

"Are you serious?" Tsunade asked, shocked.

"They tried to kill _me_." Sakura pulled her knees to her chest.

Tsunade knew Sakura must be very fragile after another incident so soon after the last one, so she softened her voice a little before she continued talking, "Where are they now?"

"They jumped out of a window..." Sakura replied. "On the fourth floor."

"The... fourth floor?" Tsunade blinked. That was well over thirty feet! Children shouldn't be able to walk away from a fall like that, but there had been no mention of injured children so they must have.

"Th-they aren't human... not anymore..." Sakura shook her head, eyes clenched shut against the memories.

"Sakura... go home and rest. But come to my office tomorrow. Just to talk." Tsunade put a reassuring hand on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura just nodded a little and then slowly got up and headed home. She didn't notice, but all the way home she was followed by ANBU. Tsunade's orders.

**. . .**

"So wait, what happened? The children we brought back?" Kakashi asked Tsunade, confused about what he'd just been told. Tsunade had filled him in on what had just happened at the hospital.

"Wh-what? Is she OK?" Naruto asked loudly. He was there too. Tsunade figured that, since he was still technically Sakura's teammate and had also been on the mission with her, he should be here as well.

"That was pretty much the first thing I said you dolt, pay attention." Tsunade sighed. She had worded it quite carefully so that they wouldn't worry too much about Sakura. She was certainly worried about the girl, but the situation was bigger than Sakura. This was something that potentially threatened the whole village.

"But they were just little kids!" Naruto argued, this didn't make sense to him.

"You started your training at six, and became a genin at 12. Children can be very dangerous if they know the proper techniques." Kakashi explained. "It makes sense, they were the only ones left in the village, and despite all that blood didn't have a scratch on them. They must have gotten that blood on them through killing." He sighed, this essentially meant there were no survivors from that bloody little village.

"Look, I just wanted you to know what happened since Sakura was involved. I'd like you to keep this to yourselves, but if you run into Ino you might as well let her know too. I'm sure she'll want to talk to Sakura." Tsunade said, dismissing them. She had no plans except to have ANBU search for the children. She hoped there wouldn't be any further casualties; they'd already lost one nurse.

**. . .**

Sakura hadn't slept any better than she had the last few nights. Her latest traumatic event had only worsened things, bringing worse nightmares. The gruesome and sexual things that little boy had said to her more than just bothered her. Why did bad things always happen to her? Tormented as a child, practically at war with her best friend, useless as a teammate, abandoned by Sasuke, and now all of this. From petty little things to this horror.

Tsunade had wanted to see her today, so she dragged herself out of bed and sluggishly went through her morning routine. She stumbled out of the front door, eyes lowered to the ground from a mix of exhaustion and wanting to hide the dark circles under her eyes.

"Hey Sakura-chan." Sakura was surprised to see that Naruto was waiting not too far from her house, leaning against a light pole. "Heh, I'd always pegged you as an early bird." He gave her a clearly forced smile and walked over.

"I'm just taking it easy, that's all." Sakura lied. She was barely moving because she was barely sleeping, but she didn't want to show weakness to Naruto of all people. She paused for a moment wondering why she was thinking that. He'd already seen her completely break down, why should she hide anything from him? Maybe she just wanted to do it for her own dignity.

"Oh, well that's good. You should be relaxing, you deserve it." Naruto nodded, his concern showing. "So I was thinking, maybe we should get something to eat together, just have fun so you can keep taking it easy." He suggested, he just wanted to help her if he could.

"Oh... I... th-thank you." Sakura looked away, she wasn't sure what to think. She felt like this was pity, she didn't want pity. At the same time he was just trying to be nice, she'd feel mean saying no. Maybe she'd say yes; it might make her feel better. "Alright, but I have to go see Tsunade first. Why don't we meet at Ichiarku's in two hours?"

"Eh, you usually complain when I say Ichiraku's!" Naruto chuckled rubbing his head in confusion.

"Well you're always happy to go there, I'm hoping it'll rub off on me. And I might regret saying this, but the ramen _is_ really good." She managed a small smile. Had Naruto actually been willing to pass up his favorite place?

"Well I won't complain then!" Naruto grinned, even with all the crazy stuff going on, today might be a good day. "I'll go find something to do and meet you later." He gave her a wave and jogged off. Sakura sighed once he was gone. Damn she was tired.

**. . .**

Sakura dragged herself into Tsunade's office, not bothering to knock. Tsunade frowned upon her entering, but her expression softened when she saw who it was.

"Well... you look terrible." Tsunade said softly, feeling terrible for her student.

"I haven't slept a full night since the town we went to." Sakura finally admitted and took a seat in front of the desk across from Tsunade.

"Sakura, that was over a week ago, it's a miracle you can even stand!" Tsunade raised her voice, her concern for Sakura peaking.

"Heh, one of the benefits of being a ninja I guess." Sakura laughed weakly. It wasn't really funny.

"Even with your training you can't last much longer on so little sleep!" Tsunade scowled, "I'll give you drugs if I have to so you can sleep a full night."

"N-no!" Sakura almost panicked. "I-I want to be able to wake up, I don't think I could handle sleeping through an entire nightmare!" Her eyes were now wide with fear.

"Sakura..." It hurt to see Sakura traumatized like this, and Tsunde wasn't sure what she could do. "Look, why don't we find some place for you to sleep and I'll have Shizune take the desk. That way if you have a nightmare I'll be right there to help you through it. Eventually I'm sure you'll be able to get enough uninterrupted sleep even if you wake up a few times."

"Umm, maybe..." Sakura sighed, she didn't like the idea of facing the nightmares again, but she did need her sleep.

"It's settled then, come on!" Tsunade got up out of her chair, "SHIZ-"

"N-not right now! I have plans with Naruto." Sakura held her hands out to stop Tsunade. The older woman smirked and sat back down, seemingly amused by this.

"Oh, finally going on a date with him? Did he take advantage of you in your exhausted state?" Tsuande chuckled, "Don't tell me it seriously took all this for you to say yes..."

"Wh-what?" Sakura's eyes shot wide. "N-no way! He's just trying to help me have fun and relax... after what happened..." Sakura's face was red and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"He's good that way, isn't he?" Tsunade smiled, Naruto never failed to do the right thing when it really mattered.

"Y-yeah..." Sakura nodded. "I have to meet him in about an hour... not sure what I should do until then."

"Well since you're not sleeping, we should probably do what I originally planned for us to do." Tsunade crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"You mean talk..." Sakura sighed and hung her head; she really didn't want to live through everything again. "There's nothing to talk about, you already know what happened, and now you know that it's keeping me up at night."

"I know. Just tell me what you're thinking." Tsunade replied.

"I'm thinking I don't want to talk about it." Sakura gripped her knees with her hands.

"And?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"And... that's it..." Sakura looked away from Tsunade.

"I know there's something you aren't telling me, Sakura." Tsunade sighed, leaning forward onto her desk, tilting her head to try and catch Sakura's eyes. Sakura glanced at Tsunade, her defenses weakening, and then she gave in,

"It's the way they talked, th-they didn't talk like children. One of them... wanted to do things to me..." Sakura started trembling. "H-he only looked like a little boy, b-but what he said... was awful."

"Go on." Tsunade urged, wanting Sakura to get everything out.

"They talked like adults, sick, twisted adults." Sakura shook her head. "Especially the boy... he talked about what he'd done to women, and even men. I don't think that's his real form. Maybe he's like Orochimaru, maybe he can switch bodies too..."

"Alright, I get it." Tsunade raised a hand to stop her. "You don't have to say anymore."

"Th-thank you..." Sakura whimpered.

"Hold on." Tsunade said and stood up, going to a small cabinet. "Let's see... ah, here it is." She pulled out a small blanket. "Look, I don't have anything comfortable, but it's fairly quiet in here, why not take a nap on the floor, I'll wake you up so you don't miss your date." Tsunade said, holding the blanket out to Sakura. The pink haired girl took the blanket and found a clear spot on the floor next to a wall.

"So, why do you have a blanket in here?" She asked as she spread said cloth object on the ground.

"Let's just say sometimes I don't feel like making the trip to my bed when the day is over." Tsunade shrugged, sitting back down at her desk.

"Too drunk?" Sakura suggested with a small smile of amusement as she lowered herself onto the blanket.

"Sleep or be knocked out, your choice." Tsunade smirked maliciously.

"Being knocked out might be easier..." Sakura sighed, closing her eyes and pulling the blanket over herself. Tsunade frowned sympathetically at the girl, but then got back to her work. She just hoped Sakura would be able to at least enjoy this short nap without a nightmare. Tsunade knew how that could be, she'd just mostly gotten over her issues. Of course Tsunade was over fifty years old, she'd had plenty of time. Who knew how long it would take for poor Sakura, only just getting close to sixteen, her trauma still fresh in her mind.

**. . .**

"Sakura..." A voice called out. Sakura rose up from where she was sleeping. The room was dark and blurry, and she could quite make out everything in the room. She walked towards the exit from the room, "Sakura!" She felt a sense of urgency, was she needed? She ran through the door, but her legs felt weak, and she couldn't run as fast as she knew she should be able to, adding to her anxiety. She felt something grab her. She screamed.

"Sakura! Calm down, it's OK!" She was still being grabbed, but it was a warm feeling, and she felt safe. She realized she had been dreaming again, though not as intense as her previous nightmares. She realized it was Tsunade holding her and she clung to the woman. "Are you OK? I was trying to wake you up for your da-, errr, meet up with Naruto, but are you sure you're up for it?"

"Huh?" Sakura mumbled, still a bit out of it. "Oh... y-yeah, I am."

"You're sure?" Tsunade asked, loosening her grip on Sakura now that she was calming down.

"Yeah... I'm fine when I'm awake." Sakura assured her sensei.

"You're scaring me Sakura. I know you're trying to be tough, but I know what it's like to go through something like this." Tsunade said to the girl. _"Nawaki... Dan..." _She repressed an outward sigh.

"I..." Sakura bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry. But I don't want to dwell on it either. Besides, if I blow off Naruto he'll worry. I don't want to do that to him."

"Fine, fine." Tsunade stood up and went back to her desk, smiling a little. "Ah well, as long as you're with him you'll be fine anyway. He'll take care of you." She chuckled a little. "Hopefully he realizes what I'll do to him if he doesn't."

"Eheheh... r-right." Sakura let out a nervous laugh. Sometimes she felt like Tsunade was her mother.

**. . .**

Naruto was grinning a little. He was happy that he got to spend time with Sakura. He was sympathetic because of the situation, but he was confident he'd get Sakura to smile if he played things right. He then noticed a cloaked figure leaning heavily on a wall a short distance down the street he was on. The dark cloak was what caught Naruto's attention, but it didn't take long for him to realize the person was in distress.

"Hey buddy, are you OK?" Naruto asked, walking over to the person. The cloaked figure glanced up, but his hood kept Naruto from seeing his face.

"I'm... fine..." He voice was clear and smooth, but also labored. "Just... not used to the outdoors. A sheltered life you see." He said and tried to stand up straight, but stumbled and started to fall. Naruto managed to catch him, and out of concern started to pull the hood back a bit so he could see this person's face and get a better idea of the state he was in. He caught a glimpse of incredibly pale skin, but the person suddenly found a burst of energy and strength and pulled the hood back over his face quickly. "Please... don't..." He said, his breathing shallow.

"Man you sound terrible, I'm getting you help!" Naruto said decisively and quickly pulled the cloaked figure to his feet and pulled his arm across his shoulders so he could help him walk.

". . . very well." The cloaked figure relented.

**. . .**

Sakura was at Ichiraku's, and she had arrived a bit early. However, at this point, Naruto was nearing 10 minutes late. She was a little angry, but also saddened. She'd been looking forward to his company, for if anyone could have distracted her it would have been him. Whether through kindness, idiocy, or some form of antics that fell in between, she was sure he'd have managed somehow. There was no way Naruto had forgotten, right? He wouldn't leave her hanging, not now, he wasn't that stupid or cruel... right?

"Don't worry Sakura, he'll be here! I know Naruto, even if only for the ramen, he'll be here!" Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen told her.

"Heh... yeah..." Sakura forced a weak smile.

"Oh, there he is! It seems he brought a friend... err, oh no, that person looks sick!" Ayame, Teuchi's daughter and assistant, announced.

"Huh?" Sakura turned around in her seat to see Naruto dragging a person over.

"Eheh, I was closer to here than the hospital... I thought you might be here, Sakura-chan." Naruto chuckled nervously. "I'm not sure what's wrong, but this guy is definitely sick!" Sakura just sighed and glanced up at the sky. Did someone have it out for her?

**. . .**

"I'm sorry for troubling you." The young man told them. They were in a dimly lit room in the hospital. "I knew I shouldn't have gone out, but I had things to do."

"Hmph, an allergy to light? That's just suspicious!" Naruto squinted. Sakura wasn't sure why she'd let him observe, she must have been too tired to think straight. However, focusing on her work was a bit easier, as it came naturally at this point.

"Naruto... it's a real thing. It's rare, but there are documented cases. In short, it causes a build up of toxins in their body that overwhelms their system." Sakrua explained to the blond.

"Oh... err... sorry." Naruto glanced away in embarrassment.

"It's fine. Like she said, I'm a rare case." The young man chuckled with a friendly smile.

"Hmm, your pulse is weak, and you seem anemic... and your breathing is a bit shallow... but you seem to be improving. Is the light in here OK?" Sakura asked him. On top of her diagnosis, she noticed his icy blue eyes and dark hair that fell just above those startlingly colored eyes. If his skin had a bit more color, she'd have found him very attractive... OK so she still did. For a moment though, Sasuke popped into her mind. He too had that dark hair, the slightly paler skin... _"Ugh, no! I do not need him on my mind on top of everything else!"_Sakura did her best to drive thoughts of the boy out of her mind.

"Yes. Artificial light doesn't bother me so much as long as it isn't too bright." He replied.

"OK. Hmm, I'll let you rest in this room for a day or two if that's OK with you? I want to make sure your body has fully recovered." Sakura told him.

"Very well. I think that will be fine." The man nodded in reply and then shut his eyes. "Please turn the lights off when you leave, if you will."

"Of course." Sakura stood up. "Come on Naruto." She motioned for the boy to follow her out, hitting the light switch off as the young man had requested.

"Right, now back to our date!" Naruto grinned brightly. Sakura nearly choked and stumbled in shock at his words.

"I-it is definitely not a date your moron!" She turned and shook a fist at him threateningly.

"Uh, um, w-wrong choice of words!" Naruto cringed in fear. "Heh, by the way, sorry for bringing you work. I know you're supposed to be relaxing."

"It's OK." Sakura's expression softened. "You're always good for a distraction." She smiled at him. "Now, shall we go get that ramen?"

"Definitely!" Naruto's grin returned at the thought of ramen.

**. . .**

Tsunade sat at her desk, working diligently. Somehow she felt like it'd be petty to complain about her work and procrastinate when Sakura had to deal with so much worse. She was distracted though when a knock came from her window. She glanced over and saw Jiraiya standing there. She sighed and motioned for him to come in.

"Is the door broken?" She asked, not looking up from her work as she spoke.

"No, but I didn't want to disturb you and Sakura." He explained as he climbed in through the window.

"So you're a pervert, and now a peeping tom?" Tsunade muttered, not impressed with the man.

"I couldn't help it. But at least she'll be with my pupil, he's a good kid. About time they had a date!" Jiraiya grinned happily.

"Hmm, yeah. Sakura says it isn't a date though. A shame really. I almost see the two as kids of mine, I'd like to see them happy together. Is that weird?" She looked up at Jiraiya.

"Well, when you put it in those words, yeah... kinda..." Jiraiya rolled his eyes.

"Well when I'm with Naruto, I want to see him happy with the girl he clearly likes, and I know Sakura would be good for him. I guess I think of him more like a grandson. Then with Sakura, I want to see her with a good guy who will definitely take care of her, because I kinda feel like she's my daughter. Naruto is the first that pops into mind. Can you think of a guy who's more dependable at the end of the day?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya.

"I see your point. But... when you say it like that... if Naruto is your grandson, and Sakura is your daughter... Sakura would be older... does that make her a pedophile?" Jiraiya raised and eyebrow and looked up at the ceiling in thought. The two then looked at each other and grimaced.

"We're putting way too much thought into this." Tsunade groaned and shook her head.

"Yeah..." Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let's stop."

**. . .**

In the end, Naruto had gotten her to both smile and laugh. She had to say that overall, this had been her best day since walking into the little house of horrors in the dead town. She was now walking to Tsunade's office as the sun set, ready to take up her sensei on the offer to help her get some real sleep.

Sadly, things looked to not work out so easily. She saw an ANBU walking along the rooftops, and she shuddered. It reminded her that those two horrible... could she call them children? Whatever they were, they could still be out stalking through the village.

No. They definitely were. They were staring right at her. She could only stare back. They grinned at her and then ran off. She stood there for a moment, trembling in shock and terror, but then her training took over and she snapped out of it.

"H-hey! Over here!" She turned and yelled to the nearby ANBU. He turned his head, and upon seeing that it was Tsunade's apprentice, the ANBU jumped down and walked over, face hidden behind a some kind of reptilian styled mask.

"Sakura-san is it? What's wrong?" The man asked.

"I saw them... th-the ones who attacked me in the hospital. I'm sure of it!" She said, hoping he wouldn't pass her off as just a traumatized girl. She could see him tilt his head in uncertainty, but she let out a held breath in relief when he nodded.

"Lead the way, Sakura-san." He spoke. She was a bit nervous about that, going first, but she had no choice. She led him in the direction they'd gone, and they soon found themselves in a sparsely populated area, mostly used for storage. They both heard a childish giggle and then a door slowly slid open on its own. "OK. I'll lead from here. You may back me up if you wish." The ANBU spoke.

"Right." Sakura said. She felt naked without her weapon pouch and her usual ninja attire. She didn't look forward to fighting in a skirt if it came to that. Then again, flashing her panties would be the least of her worries in such a situation she supposed. Such thoughts fled quickly when the ANBU moved forward and entered the small storehouse.

She followed him in, and saw no movement... at first. The next thing they knew, a wooden table flew at the ANBU with no clear sign of who was at fault. The ANBU deftly jumped over it and landed gracefully, drawing a tanto immediately after. However, he was not ready for an iron rod to suddenly fly out of nowhere directly at him at that same instant, and was impaled through the stomach. Blood sprayed back violently, some of it even landing on Sakura. She could feel the warm liquid upon her face.

She shrieked in horror, and could only watch as the ANBU was levitated, and then flung to the side to die. The two children walked out from behind some large covered boxes after that, looking at her with malice in their eyes, but grins on their faces.

"Sakura, how good of you to rejoin us. Maybe we can finish where we left off." Arata chuckled darkly, but still in a child's voice.

"No, I'll kill her. You've had all the fun." Arisu stepped forward, and raised a hand to use her supernatural powers on Sakura. Suddenly though, a new, cloaked figure burst in through the door and shoved Sakura aside. A chain flew out, held by the figure, and wrapped around Arisu. The girl fell the the ground, suddenly bound and helpless.

"DAMMIT!" Arata growled and used his own powers, and the figure was lifted off the ground and pinned to a wall. "Again? AGAIN? I want to kill this pathetic bitch, why can't I?" He shouted, crushing the person against the wall. He groaned and struggled, but was completely at Arata's mercy.

Sakura knew she had to do something. This person seemed to know how to fight these children, as Arisu was out of the fight after only one move from him. She couldn't cower, no, she had to act! Throwing caution to the wind, she charged at Arata, fist cocked back. Arata turned, and started to raise a hand, but he'd been too focused on the intruder. A second later, and Sakura might have been too late, but as it was, Arata soon found himself crashing into a pile of wooden pallets.

The figure that had been pinned against the wall fell to the ground, but he quickly got to his feet, as in unfazed by what he'd just gone through. He suddenly went over to the dead ANBU and ripped the iron rod out of his chest. The figure muttered something in a foreign language and the rod suddenly burned with a bright light. He then quickly paced over the the fallen Arata and raised the rod up high.

"N-no! NO!" Arata tried to raise a hand in defense, but the rod was plunged into the boy and Arata screamed, light pouring out of his mouth and eyes. When it faded, he was still, eyes no longer black. The rod was pulled out, and he turned next towards Arisu, but black smoke suddenly poured out of her mouth and flew out the door. Arisu lay still after that, but her chest still rose and fell faintly.

"Wh-who...?" Sakura stuttered.

The figured chuckled, "How many mysterious cloaked figures wander through your village? I wonder..." He pulled back his hood, revealing himself to be the young man with an allergy to light.

"You?" Sakura gasped, wondering how the sickly man had been able to burst in and so effectively deal with the two children that had nearly killed her twice.

"Things have happened, Sakura." He explained. "Things have been... let out." He walked over to Arisu and removed the chain binding her. "Take her somewhere safe, then go rest. I assure you, there are no other fiends in this village for you to fear, so do your best to get some sleep." Somehow the calm certainty he spoke with calmed her, and made her feel safe. She felt no sense of danger emanating from him. "If you wish, I'll be in my hospital room tomorrow. If you want to know more come find me. You can bring that boy Naruto as well if you wish, he seems to be someone you trust. I won't mind if he hears what I have to say as well."

"W-wait! Can't you tell me now? At least something?" Sakura begged. This was all so sudden, so traumatic, she wanted to put her mind at ease, if only a little.

"I'd like to, but that girl needs your help." He shook his head. "That... and there's a lot to tell Sakura. A lot." With that, he pulled his hood back over his head and walked out of the storehouse, leaving Sakura with the little girl who'd tried to kill her not long ago.

Sakura looked down at her. She looked to be sleeping, though she also seemed troubled. She felt anxiety that seemed out of place when looking at a young child. She gasped though when she saw tears coming from the little girl's eyes.

"You... it hurts for you too... doesn't i?" Sakura said, mostly to herself. Now she felt like crying. She picked up the little girl and held her close. She was a victim too. Right now, this little girl was probably the only one in the village who truly shared what she felt inside. She'd keep her safe.

* * *

**And there it is. Chapter two! Sorry it took so long, but I'm on a roll! I've finished three overdue chapters in two days! Sorry that this is shorter than the previous one, but I wrote everything that mattered and I didn't hit 20 pages. Damn! Oh well, I'll do better next time! Or I hope I will, I don't have that portion very well planned. I have the ending and the meat of it well in mind, but that little void in between might be difficult!**

**I only got one review, and I replied to that up top, so I guess there will be no viewer mail down here this time. Dammit people! Step up your game and leave me so loooove! Or... or... I'll cry!**

**Psst, spoiler... I won't really cry. **

**Also, this isn't a Sakura centric fic, though this chapter does indeed give out that vibe. Sakura is just kind of at the forefront at the moment because she is the one who has the most on her plate. No one else in the fic currently has as much going on to write about. I love my dear Sakura-chan, but that focus on her will shift, promise-promise! **


	3. Dark Tidings

**Slightly more attention for chapter two. Getting' there, getting' there. Still have no idea where I'm really taking this, but I think I have enough ideas to go for a while. This chapter is going to be a pain in the ass to write though.**

**Now for a review response to Nikki1212: (Twelvetwelve... is that like Tenten?)**

**You're welcome for the review on your fic. That was a long time ago! **

**And I love a strong Sakura, or just Sakura in general, too. And yes she may be a ninja, but keep in mind she's only 15 or so at this point and had never seen anything like that before. The fact that she was able to recover to any extent shortly after is where her strength shines through.**

* * *

**Dark Tidings**

"Shut up," Tsunade growled. She was about ready to throw her chair at the idiot in front of her.

"I'm just saying, it's something we need to keep in mind. Sakura has been traumatized, sleep deprived, and is the only living witness to the recent murders. Can we really trust that it was children who did this?" the ANBU captain before her replied. "A lot of people agree with me. I'll keep my hands off of the girl for now, but at this rate it isn't looking good. The fact that she is your student won't protect her if I don't find evidence that works in her favor."

After the ANBU had turned up dead along with the little boy, things had started going south. Sure some people had been suspicious since the nurse had been killed, but now it was far worse. The surviving little girl was totally harmless now, and nothing showed she'd ever been otherwise. Sakura claimed some sort of black cloud had flown of her and that it was the real being behind the murders. Unfortunately, Sakura had no one to back up her claims and many thought she'd snapped after her visit to the massacred village.

The only thing saving Sakura was the fact that no one could deny _something_ strange was going on with the world. Unless someone could prove that Sakura was the murderer, she'd be safe for now. Tsunade was convinced she was innocent, she knew the girl, but others like the ANBU captain she was arguing with didn't know her nearly as well.

**. . .**

"Hm, I was wondering if you would ever show up. Alone as well? Brave girl."

"You saved me, I'm taking a leap of faith." Sakura was talking to the cloaked man who'd saved her from the murderous children. "Who are you?" She sat down next to the man's bed.

"Something that got let out." He suddenly grinned, revealing canine teeth that were far too long to be normal. "Ever heard of a vampire?" Sakura jumped up and backed away.

"No, hell no! You're lying!"

"Remind yourself of what you've seen lately and try a new response," the... vampire said calmly, but with an annoyed frown.

"But... you saved me. And why tell me what you are?"

"I need to give you a reason to believe what I am going to tell you. If you know I am an insider, then that should be all the credibility I need."

"So... you're not allergic to light?" This earned a chuckle from the vampire.

"Not in the normal sense, no. In fact I had no idea people could be allergic to light. I guess I am lucky there was such a convenient excuse for me to use at the time."

"Right. Lucky." Sakura shuddered. Great, her medical knowledge had been used against her to let a damn vampire sneak into the village! Seriously though, a vampire? Those existed?

"Well, enough of this. Let me get to explaining. There is a gate, and it has been opened. Not all the way, thankfully. If it had been, there would be more than just a few slaughtered villages to deal with."

"Wait, a few? More than one?"

"Unfortunately. There are more than just demons that have gotten free, as you can see. I am not the only vampire for that matter," he explained.

"Why aren't you trying to, you know, eat people?"

"I'm more of a scholar. I cannot really remember, but maybe that is what I was when I was still human. Regardless, I have taken advantage of my immortality to learn and keep very detailed records of, well, everything." He smiled slyly and pulled out a thick notebook. "For example I have been writing a bit about you. You are very strong for a human, aren't you? Not just anyone can punch a demon clean off his feet, even if he is only possessing a child."

"I-I used chakra. I'm not really that strong, c-compared to some." This... this... _thing_ had been writing about her? She felt dirty.

"Hm, I see. Well I was impressed." He cleared his throat. "But back on subject. Since I have chosen a more studious life, perhaps that's why I have come to the decision I have, but I know that the Gate cannot be left open. The land will not survive if it remains open or, worse, opens fully. I do not know how to close it, but I have a vague idea of where it is. Unfortunately it is far away and the closer you get the more evil you will run into."

"Evil? Like what?"

"Vampires who are less friendly, various demons, ghouls. I could go on." He sighed. "I'm sure there will be things even I've never heard of. I had been hoping I might be able to find someone I could speak to. I hate to say it, but your demon problem was the perfect opportunity for me. I was not careful enough though and let myself get exposed to too much sunlight, otherwise my rescue attempt might have gone more smoothly."

"Don't feel too bad. More smoothly might have meant killing the girl. Did you have to kill the boy?"

"Honestly? No. But with there being two of them and because I was not prepared I did not have the time to risk attempting any other method."

"You didn't have time?" Sakura wasn't sure how to react. It was true, the children, er, demons had been incredibly dangerous, but the children they'd been inhabiting were innocent. One of them was now innocent and dead.

"You were there," the vampire replied simply. "Do you disagree?"

"I... no."

"Then let us move on. The Gate must be closed, I said I do not know how, though I have theories. Unfortunately any who do know how to close it likely will not want it closed."

"You said the land won't survive if it stays open. Why do you care?" She had no reason to not trust him, except for the fact that he was what he was, and if she was going to get past that she'd need a damn good reason.

"The Gate leads back to a sort of purgatory: a small, cramped, dark place that is a twisted, corrupt version of this world. This world will become just more of the same. Over time this entire world will be consumed. I have lived a long time in that purgatory, I would rather not have this world turn into that. I like the variety." The vampire grinned, his elongated canines shining in the faint light.

"That's... comforting."

**. . .**

"This is quite the inconvenience. The Ichibi was your responsibility," the dark haired man said in a near monotone voice.

"We were attacked by something... unusual. Deidara is incapacitated. That said I have a plan in place, all that is needed is someone to take over Deidara's part of that plan. I believe Kisame will do well enough. Your help would speed things along as well. Our leader has already given these orders, why are we having this conversation, Itachi?" Sasori asked impatiently.

"Because I have my own work that is being put on hold," Itachi muttered.

**. . .**

"Un..." Deidara slurred, stumbling through the halls of the empty building. It was a hotel that was secretly an Akatsuki asset to provide funding. It had been easy to have it vacated since they had needed it. Deidara was supposed to be resting, but he was feeling restless... and hungry.

He saw Kisame leaning against a wall with a look of intense disdain on his face. The large shark man didn't spare Deidara even a momentary glance.

"Ya... ya know, fer a guy who looks like a big shark, you don't smell that much like a fish... un," Deidara commented as he walked over to him.

"I... what?" Kisame gave him a screwed up look.

"Well, now that I'm closer you do smell a little like one. Hey... can... can I... can I taste you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kisasme started to back away.

"Come on, just one lick..."

"BACK OFF!" Kisame roared and kicked Deidara straight in the chest. He left Deidara writhing on the floor.

Kisame found Itachi and Sasori having a silent staring match, which was interrupted when the shark man walked over.

"Hmph, Sasori, your crazy partner just tried to eat me," he told the puppet master. Sasori turned to face him, but the scorpion-like puppet masked any hint of emotion, not that Sasori showed any in most situations regardless.

"He tried to eat you?" Sasori sighed lightly. "Where is he?" Kisame didn't need to answer, because Deidara staggered over to them moments later, clutching his mouth which was leaking blood.

"Ya... ya knocked out a tooth, un!" Deidara whimpered.

"Idiot, I kicked you in the chest! Your mouth is..." Kisame couldn't finish his sentence. Deidara's mouth was clearly bloody and _not_ fine, regardless of what Kisame had or hadn't done.

"L-look! It's gone!" Deidara opened his mouth, blood spilling out and splattering onto his own chest and the floor. He pointed to a gap where a tooth used to be.

"Deidara, come closer and let me have a better look," Sasori ordered. Deidara stumbled over and leaned in close. Sasori swung out without warning, the bulky arm of his Hirako puppet striking Deidara across the face. Blood sprayed out, splattering across the walls and narrowly missing Itachi who scowled. Teeth clattered, bouncing off the walls and rolling across the floor.

"Wh-wh-why'd you do thath, un?" Deidara whined pitifully, the blood and lack of teeth impairing his speech.

"I didn't hit you that hard, Deidara, your teeth should have stayed in your mouth. Let me get another look at it now."

"N-no! Fyou'll h-heet fme agunn!" Deidara spoke through the blood in his mouth, spitting much of it onto the floor, and tried to get away, but tripped over his own feet.

"I was testing something, I have my results, I have no reason to hit you again," Sasori explained and walked over to Deidara. Deidara trembled weakly, but opened his mouth again for Sasori. An excessive amount of blood was oozing out, leaving Deidara's chin completely covered and the front of his shirt was becoming soaked with the warm, sticky liquid. With all the blood it was hard to see, but Sasori could just make out the glint of something white in the bloody sockets left by Deidara's missing teeth.

"Wh-what is it?"

"Well, this is a large annoyance," Sasori stated.

"What do you see?" Itachi asked, actually curious at this point.

"He was not envenomed. In fact I do not believe he is simply poisoned or even diseased."

"Then what? He sure seems sick to me," Kisame grunted.

"He's growing new teeth," Sasori explained, earning a silent pause from everyone.

"T-teef?" Deidara groaned. "W-welf I need ew uns... unf."

"Why would he be growing new teeth?" Itachi motioned for Deidara to stay silent.

"I believe he's becoming one of the things that bit him," Sasori told him. "Kisame, you said he was trying to eat you. The creatures we encountered were emaciated and bestial, likely his desire to eat you was a sign of his... transformation."

"He said I smelled like fish," Kisame rolled his eyes. "So great, he's becoming a... thing... can I cut his head off now?"

"N-n-no! Donf leff him cuff off mah hread!" Deidara grabbed at Sasori's cloak.

"I'm sorry, Deidara, but you've become a liability. You're useless, and I don't see any chance for you to recover." The scorpion tail on Sasori's puppet reared back.

"NO!" Deidara frantically looked around, his eyes stopping on Itachi. "H-hey, stoff him! You recruiffed me! R-remefer? Hel-" Deidara's plea for help was cut off with a dull, wet sound and a faint crunch of bones breaking. A weak groan escaped his lips along with a renewed flow of blood. He collapsed as Sasori's puppet tail pulled free of his stomach. If he wasn't dead, he would be within moments.

"Now that he's been dealt with, there's nothing stopping us from dealing with the Ichibi container. I'll have someone clean this mess up. We'll have to be wary of any more creatures, but I foresee no other major obstacles," Sasori stated coldly, relatively unconcerned with Deidara's violent, messy passing.

"Of course," Itachi muttered. "Kisame, grab your things, we leave within the hour."

**. . .**

"Dammit, Shizune does this make any sense to you? Because I don't have any idea what the hell this means." Tsunade was going over a pile of reports that were flowing in. Towns decimated, a spike in murders, brutal ones, and sightings of things that people said were neither human nor any animal that had ever been seen before. Apparently what Sakura and her team had found was not an isolated incident. "If those two children were what killed that first village, then what the hell is all of this?" She dropped the small stack of reports she'd been flipping through onto her desk, a few of the papers sliding off.

"I-I don't know," Shizune replied, looking up from her own small stack. With so many strange reports, she was helping read through them all. "I don't understand it either."

"I suppose it only means there are more than just the two Sakura dealt with," Tsunade sighed in exasperation. "It sounds like those two killed the village without help from any others, and if two can do that, I don't even want to know what more are capable of."

"Are we going to investigate?"

"I can send a few teams to the destroyed towns but, as for these creature sightings, I'm not ready to go chase down shadows just yet."

"Do you not think the sightings are real?" Shizune asked and got up to retrieve the fallen reports.

"I don't know. If there was something inhuman in those two children, who knows what else is out there, but we don't have any solid leads right now. The towns we know exist, and we can investigate them. I'll start there. If these sightings are real, with any luck they'll be connected."

"OK." Shizune mumbled and returned the papers to Tsunade's desk. She didn't immediately go back to her own chair though.

"What?" Tsunade glanced up at the younger woman when she didn't move.

"What about Sakura?"

"What about her? I've done all I can at the moment." Tsunade didn't want to talk about that right then. It was consuming half of her thoughts as it was.

"But you haven't been keeping me in the loop! I don't know what's going on! Can't you just tell them to stop investigating?"

"You can read the ANBU reports yourself." Tsunade scowled at Shizune. "As for stopping it, you know better, you've worked alongside me in this damn office for the last three years. You know how things work."

"But there has to be-" Shizune was silence when Tsunde slammed her hand onto her desk, spilling half the papers off of it and nearly cracking it in half.

"IF THERE WAS I'D HAVE DONE IT ALREADY!" Tsunade roared. "My hands are tied," she spoke the latter in a comparatively soft tone.

"I-"

"Clean up this mess and get back to reading," Tsunade grumbled and went back to reading herself. Shizune was worried, for Sakura and Tsunade. Tsunade was always grumpy when it came to her position as Hokage it seemed, but at this rate she wondered if the woman was going to break under the pressure. Shizune had been with Tsunade long enough to know when the woman was upset, but her rage was reaching new heights. All the recent events and now Sakura being investigated was weighing heavily on the woman.

Shizune finally cleaned up the fallen paper work and then set herself back to reading. The only thing was she wasn't reading what Tsunade had expected her to. Cleaning up the papers had been the perfect chance for her to grab the ANBU reports on Sakura. Sure she'd been given permission, but no doubt Tsunade had intended for Shizune to read those on her own time.

**. . .**

Sakura had been forced to leave the vampire's room at the hospital. It had been getting hard to breathe the more he spoke. She was scared. Scared of him, scared of what he told, her, scared of her own imaginings of what was out there, lurking in the night. He said the two demons were the only things that had been in the village, but what was keeping more from coming and replacing them? Worse, what if hew as wrong and something was there already?

She needed to talk to someone, someone who wouldn't be obligated to do something about what she had to say. She needed to sort through things herself first. Naruto? He would definitely listen to her, but out of all the good traits that she had to admit he had, a keen intelligence wasn't exactly one of them. He was remarkably clever in battle sometimes, but she needed a different kind of mind.

She considered Ino, she was smarter definitely, and she'd seen the village so she already had a little experience with what was going on. Ino could be difficult at times though. Unfortunately Sakura didn't have many other options. She needed someone with at least some smarts who she could also trust, which left her with her former rival.

Ino was taking a little time off from active duty. She wasn't traumatized like Sakura, but even Kakashi had been offered a few days rest after the horror of the little town. Ino was thus tending her family's flower shop as she often did when not busy with training or missions.

Sakura's arrival was announced by a small bell dangling on front door of the shop.

"Sakura!" Ino immediately abandoned the counter and grabbed her in a crushing embrace. "I wasn't sure if I should visit you! Why can't you stay out of trouble?" Ino backed off, but still held her at arms length.

"I-I don't know. I wish I could. Can you take a break? I need someone to talk to. It could take a while, it's important though," Sakura told her.

"Important? How important? Shouldn't you tell Tsunade if it's important?"

"Do you not want to listen?" Sakura's heart sank.

"No! Of course I do!" Ino ran to the door and flipped the open sign over so that it read close and then led Sakura to a back room. "What is it?" She asked as they sat down on some empty flower crates. The aroma of the assorted flowers in the storage was relaxing. Relaxation was something Sakura sorely needed. Ino had definitely been the right choice, if only because of the setting they were speaking in.

"Naruto brought me a patient yesterday, some guy who'd collapsed in the street."

"A patient? You were attacked! What the hell was he thinking?" Ino immediately got angry. Sakura wished she wouldn't. She was sure Ino was putting on a show to try and prove that she was on Sakura's side in this whole mess but, as much as she appreciated, she didn't need it right now.

"That's not the problem. If anything it probably saved my life."

"What do you mean?"

"That guy isn't human. He knows things. I don't know if you heard, but I was attacked again. Those two children set a trap. I had an ANBU with me, but they killed him in... in... so fast." Sakura started shaking at the memory. She shook her head to try and clear it so she could continue. "I... I would be dead too, but that patient showed up and was able to fight them. He still needed my help, but if he hadn't been there..." she let it trail off.

"W-wow. I... you were there? They said something happened, but no one told me you were there!" Ino was shocked. "Wait, wait, not human? WHAT?" That part sunk in a little late.

"Yeah. He says he's a vampire-"

"So he's insane? Doesn't mean he's not human." Ino crossed her arms.

"He has long canines, pale skin, knows how to kill demons, and sunlight makes him sick," Sakura explained with a groan. She wished it was just a mentally ill person too, but the evidence was overwhelming.

"So we have a vampire in the village. That's great. When are we moving out then?"

"Ugh, and what he told me today is the w-"

"You're _talking_ to it?" Ino shot to her feet. "You're more messed up in the head than I thought! What were you thinking?"

"I needed answers!" Sakura shouted back. "I had a pair of demons hunting me! I almost died, _twice!_ He saved my life, it was worth the risk and it payed off!"

"All right, all right," Ino raised her hands in surrender. "Fine, what did _it_ tell you?"

"He was talking about a gate that opened and let things out. Apparently a _lot _more than just him and those two demons."

"You keep calling them demons. Demons like the Kyuubi or something?" Just about everyone in Konoha knew about the Kyuubi, though far fewer knew where it was currently located.

"No, I don't think so. They can steal bodies on a whim. They don't seem to be as outright destructive, but I would never want to face one alone. One on one without some kind of advantage is suicide against these things," Sakura explained. Just talking about it brought back vivid memories. The nurse cut wide open, being pinned and strangled by invisible forces, feeling helpless and alone.

"That's just scary." Ino shivered. "B-but they're gone now, right?"

"One is dead, the other left. I'm just worried that it knows my face, it's probably mad at me. If it steals someone's body again and comes after me, I'll probably be dead the second it sees me. I don't know how to fight them. The only one who does is a damn vampire! I don't know what I should do, Ino! She's not even the only demon left according to him! You saw those black clouds, didn't you? That's what those demons look like, there could be thousands of them!" Sakura completely broke down at this point, huge sobs wracking her body.

Ino was stunned silent. Thousands? She tried to put it out of her mind at least for the moment. She needed to comfort Sakura. At least it might distract her from what she'd just heard. She sat down next to the crying girl and put an arm around her.

"We need to tell someone else, this isn't anything you or I can take care of alone," Ino told her.

"I-I know. But I need to know what he knows, i-if I tell Tsunade what I've learned, she'll want to know how I learned it. If I say a vampire told me, they'll lock him up or kill him, or they might lock me up in a mental ward!" Ino had never seen Sakura look this defeated and lost before. She remembered Sakura had been in a similar state when she'd first befriended the girl, but this time she couldn't think of a single way she could even begin to make this better.

"Umm, what about Kakashi? He saw the village, he'll believe you for sure!" Ino wasn't sure what Kakashi could do, but she couldn't think of anyone else. They needed people who knew Sakura enough to believe her, Kakashi was one of few people who would almost certainly take her side. Ino herself was another, and then there was Naruto, but he'd be next to useless right now, and lastly there were Tsunade and Shizune. Tsunade was the Hokage which on one hand gave her a lot of power, but she was also in a place of huge responsibility which came with unfortunate limitations along with the power.

"I guess so..."

**. . .**

"He's in here," Sakura told Kakashi. She and Ino had tracked the man down and then brought him to the vampires room. Even Kakashi had looked overwhelmed at what he'd been told, but after absorbing it all he'd been highly suspicious. In the end he'd decided that whether or not he fully believed Sakura, or at least what she'd been told by the vampire, he still had a duty to investigate.

"Wait out here, I don't trust this person. I'll talk to him myself," Kakashi had them wait outside the door and went inside. A full minute passed and then he came back out. "Are you sure it was this room?"

"What? Yeah, of course!" Sakura replied with a confident nod. "Why?"

"It's empty. And clean. It doesn't look like it's been used for a while," Kakashi told her and stepped aside so she could see for herself. It was indeed quite empty.

"Dammit! Why would he leave?" Sakura punched a wall. Fortunately she'd held back and didn't demolish it and the room behind it.

"Won't there be records?" Ino asked.

"Nothing useful, but at least it should prove that I didn't completely make him up," Sakura told her. Kakashi motioned for them to lead on and they went to the front desk. As Sakura had said, all they learned was that Sakura had indeed brought in a man who'd proven to have an allergy to light, which they already knew.

"OK, I believe you Sakura, someone was here and now they've fled. That proves that _something _is going on. I can't just take your word for everything, but I'll keep it in mind until we have proof one way or another. Also since you're my student I'm going to tell you something I shouldn't. Ino, if we can have a moment?" Kakashi then led Sakura to an empty room.

"Wh-what is it?" Sakura asked once they were alone.

"You're under investigation for three murders," Kakashi told her quite frankly.

"WHAT?" Sakura nearly lost the ability to stand from the shock.

"No one else saw the attacks, there are no witnesses to back up you're story. I believe you, I know you'd never do these things. In fact I highly doubt you could overtake an ANBU on your own. That and his wounds are generally inconsistent with your fighting style... although..."

"Although what?" Sakura urged him to speak.

"He had a metal pipe driven through him at high velocity. You _do _ have the strength to do that, though I won't say that to anyone else. I'll just hope no one else thinks of it anytime soon." Kakashi sighed. "Tsunade's keeping them from locking you up or interrogating you, but it's not looking good."

"B-but there is another witness. Th-the vampir-"

"On that note, stop calling him a vampire. Maybe he is, but until we have proof besides your word, let's not fuel the rumors that you've gone completely insane," Kakashi advised. It was probably good advice, though Sakura didn't like hearing what kind of rumors were spreading about her.

"Well... that... _person_ is a witness! He saved me when the ANBU was killed by those dem... children," Sakura corrected herself this time. Demons weren't much better than vampires.

"OK. I've stayed out of the investigation since I'm too close to you, but I'll get involved now. I'll hunt down this guy and see what I can find out for you. I'll need a good description and anything else you can tell me," Kakashi said. "I'll get to the bottom of this. I know you're innocent. As for this talk of demons and monsters, we can save that until we've exonerated you and found this... vampire."

"Right. O-OK. Thank you, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Even if only a little, she could relax and let Kakashi handle things now.

"Until then, I want you to stay with Ino. She knows what's going on and you two are pretty close. If she's willing, you might even want to sleep in the same room for a while."

"Right. Just don't get any funny ideas about us," Sakura gave a weak laugh.

"I... what? Oh, a joke." Kakashi shook his head. "I suppose that's not a bad sign if you're making jokes. But what kind of person do you take me for?" He gave her a smile.

"The kind who reads too much porn."

**. . .**

"I-I'm sorry! I'll do better, please I-" His face was sprayed with blood. He felt something slimy on his forehead and reached up. He let out a startled cry and jumped back when he saw what he's pulled off of his face. It had been a liver, or what was left of it. The man in front of him who'd been speaking had just been liquified and splattered across the room, and him.

"What? O-oh, of course my lord," he timidly approached the wall before him, the only surface clean of blood at the moment. He knelt before it, placing his forehead to the ground. He tried to ignore that fact that he was currently kneeling in a pile of fileted organs. He could feel bone fragments cutting into his knees. He hoped he could leave the room before it started to smell too bad.

"I see, yes, y-yes of course! And then I... I... d-do I have t- I'M SORRY! Whatever you command!" He whimpered, sorry to have even thought to complain, especially after what had happened to his predecessor. "Yes, I'll go! I'll find her!" He got to his feet and turned to leave quickly, slipping on the entrails of the exploded man. Before he was out of the room though, the blood and gore that had coated him was gone. A small mercy granted by his master.

* * *

**OK, I admit it, I was running low on ideas. A short chapter is easier to read though! I just need to get things in motion and then I'll be putting out at least slightly longer chapters again. I feel like I at least managed to do some decent exposition and build up some drama, so that's good, right?**

**Poor Sakura!**

**Now for the mail!**

**Creepy Quiet Kid: Why are you complaining? I dunno... but unless you have advice next time...**

**At least you liked the rest of it which, let's be honest, is far more important than how well I can write gore. Words can only go so far though, and I'm not sure how to improve. Too specific and it turns into an anatomy textbook, too vague and you don't get the full, bloody picture. Hmm. Well thanks for the review anyway. Hope you continue to like the part I'm supposedly actually good at...**

**AstroMarze: Dude... I love fudge.**

**Til' next time!**


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